Hannah Webster Foster

Hannah Webster Foster (1758–1840) was an American novelist, essayist and advocate for women’s education. Raised in Massachusetts and well-educated for her time, she wrote anonymously on moral and social topics before publishing her influential epitolary novel The Coquette (1797), based on the real-life tragedy of Elizabeth Whitman. The novel explores themes of reputation, female agency and societal constraint, and became one of early America’s most widely read works. Her second novel, The Boarding School (1798), promoted rational education for girls. Though she later withdrew from public authorship, Foster’s works continue to be read for their insight into the challenges facing women in the early American republic.