author
Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford
1835–1921
A popular 19th-century American writer, she brought Gothic intensity, psychological drama, and vivid description to stories, poems, and novels. Her work ranged widely, but she is still especially remembered for bold, atmospheric fiction that stood apart from the conventions of her time.
1 Audiobook
The Children of the Valley
by Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford
About the author
Born in Calais, Maine, in 1835, Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford grew into one of the most widely published American writers of her era. She wrote across many forms, including short stories, novels, poems, essays, literary criticism, and detective fiction, building a career that lasted for more than sixty years.
Spofford is often associated with richly descriptive, Gothic-leaning fiction and with female characters who did not fit the usual literary molds of the 19th century. One of her best-known works, Circumstance, helped establish her reputation, and later readers have continued to value her for the intensity, originality, and imaginative power of her writing.
She died in 1921 in Massachusetts, leaving behind a body of work that shows both range and daring. For modern readers, she offers a fascinating view of American literature beyond the most familiar names: strange, stylish, and often surprisingly modern in feeling.