author
Laura Dayton Fessenden
A versatile American writer of romances, children's stories, and songs, she published steadily from the late 1870s into the 1920s. Her work ranges from light verse to imaginative fiction, including the curious and charming Moon Children.
1 Audiobook
Hatsu: A Story of Egypt
by Laura Dayton Fessenden
About the author
Born in New York City on December 29, 1852, Laura Dayton Fessenden built a long literary career that stretched across more than four decades. Before her marriage, she published as Laura C. S. Dayton, and she became known as an author of romances and other popular books, as well as a contributor to magazines and a writer of songs.
Her bibliography shows a writer with wide interests rather than a single narrow specialty. She wrote romantic and historical fiction, verse, children's literature, and family history, with titles including Essie, Bonnie Mackirby, Hatsu: A Story of Egypt, Moon Children, and Genealogical Story. That mix gives her work an appealing old-fashioned variety, moving easily between sentiment, imagination, and storytelling.
Fessenden also had an active civic side: she is noted as the founder of the Highland Park Woman's Club. She died on May 11, 1924, in Chicago, leaving behind a body of work that offers a lively glimpse of American literary tastes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.