author
Marie Van Vorst
1867–1936
An American novelist, painter, and social investigator, she is best remembered for turning firsthand reporting into vivid books about women’s industrial labor and social life. Her work blends curiosity, storytelling, and a strong interest in how people actually lived.
7 Audiobooks
The Sentimental Adventures of Jimmy Bulstrode
by Marie Van Vorst
His love story
by Marie Van Vorst
The Girl From His Town
by Marie Van Vorst
The Woman Who Toils Being the Experiences of Two Gentlewomen as Factory Girls
by Mrs. John Van Vorst, Marie Van Vorst
Modern French Masters
by Marie Van Vorst
Fairfax and His Pride: A Novel
by Marie Van Vorst
Poems
by Marie Van Vorst
About the author
Born in New York City in 1867, Marie Van Vorst built a varied career as a writer, painter, and researcher. She wrote fiction as well as nonfiction, and she gained particular notice for exploring social conditions rather than observing them from a distance.
With her sister-in-law Bessie Van Vorst, she went undercover in factories and mills to study the lives of working women, an experience that fed into The Woman Who Toils. That mix of investigation and narrative helped set her apart from many of her contemporaries, giving her writing both immediacy and sympathy.
Later in life, Van Vorst also served as a volunteer nurse during World War I. She died in Florence, Italy, in 1936, leaving behind a body of work that connected literary skill with a real desire to understand the world firsthand.