Maria S. (Maria Susanna) Cummins

Born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1827, Maria Susanna Cummins became an American novelist at a young age and is remembered above all for The Lamplighter. Published in 1854, the book was an enormous success and quickly made her one of the notable popular authors of her era.

Cummins was educated in Massachusetts and spent much of her life in the Boston area, including Dorchester, where she died in 1866. Along with The Lamplighter, she wrote other novels including Mabel Vaughan, El Fureidis, Haunted Hearts, and Around Mull.

Her fiction is often linked with the sentimental and domestic writing that drew large audiences in the mid-1800s. While some reviewers were dismissive, her popularity with readers made her an important figure in American literary culture of the period.