Lifespan: 1819-1899
Nationality: American
Genres:
Types of Work: Novels
Contemporaries:
Style: Most novels deal with the Southern U.S. during after the Civil War.
Bio: Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth was born December 26, 1819. In 1840, she married inventor Frederick Southworth. The couple initially lived in Wisconsin, but later moved to Washington D.C.
She first began to write stories to support herself and her children after her husband deserted them in 1844. Her story, "Irish Refugee" was her first published work.
Though a supporter of social change and women's rights, she was not as active on these issues as her friend, Harriet Beecher Stowe.
After her first novel, Retribution, was well received, she gave up her teaching job and began to write full time. Her best known work, The Hidden Hand, appeared first in a serial form in the New York Ledger in 1859. In all, she published over sixty stories and novels. She died in Georgetown, D.C. in 1876.
Novels:
Retribution; or The Vale of Shadows: A Tale of Passion (1849)
The Deserted Wife (1850)
The Mother-in-Law; or The Isle of Rays (1851)
Shannondale (1851)
Virginia and Magdalene; or The Foster Sisters (1852)
The Discarded Daughter; or the Children of the Ilse: A Tale of the Chesapeake (1852)
The Curse of Clifton (1852)
Old Neighborhoods and New Settlements; or Christmas Evening Legends (1853)
The Lost Heiress (1854)
The Wife's Victory and Other Nouvellettes (1854)
The Missing Bride (1855)
Miriam the Avenger (The sequel to The Missing Bride) (1856)
The Widow's Son (1856)
India: The Pearl of Pearl River (1856)
Viva; or The Secret of Power (1857)
The Two Sisters (1858)
The Lady of the Isle; or, The Island Princess (1859)
The Haunted Homestead and Other Nouvellettes (1860)
The Gipsy's Prophecy: A Tale of Real Life (1861)
Hickory Hall; or The Outcast: A Romance of the Blue Ridge (1861)
The Broken Engagement; or, Speaking theTruth for a Day (1862)
Love's Labor Won (1862)
The Fatal Marriage (1863)
The Bridal Eve (1864)
Allworth Abbey (1865)
The Bride of Llewellyn (1866)
The Fortune Seeker; or, The Bridal Day (1866)
The Coral Lady; or The Bronzed Beauty of Paris (1867)
Fair Play; or The Test of Lone Isle (1868)
How He Won Her: A Sequel to Fair Play (1969)
The Changed Brides (1869)
The Brides Fate: A Sequel to "The Changed Brides" (1869)
The Family Doom; or The Sin of a Countess (1869)
The Maiden Widow: A Sequel to the "Family Doom" (1870)
The Christmas Guest; or The Crime and the Curse (1870)
Cruel as the Grave (1871)
Tried for Her Life (1871)
The Lost Heir of Linlithgow (1872)
The Noble Lord: The Sequel to "The Lost Heir of Linlithgow (1872)
A Beautiful Fiend; or, Through the Fire (1873)
Victor's Triumphs: The Sequel to "A Beautiful Fiend" (1874)
Mystery of Dark Hollow (1875)
Ishmael; or, In the Depths (1876)
Self-Raised; or, From the Depths: A Sequel to "Ishmael." (1876)
The Red Hill Tragedy: A Novel (1877)
The Bride's Ordeal: A Novel (1877)
Her Love or Her Life: A Sequel to "The Bride's Ordeal: A Novel (1877)
Sybil Brotherton: A Novel (1879)
The Trail of the Serpent; or, The Homicide at Hawke Hall (1880)
Why Did He Wed Her? (1881)
For Whose Sake? A Sequel to "Why Did He Wed Her?" (1884)
A Deed Without a Name (1886)
Dorothy Harcourt's Secret: Sequel to a "A Deed Without a Name." (1886)
To His Fate: A Sequel to "Dorothy Harcourt's Secret" (no date)
When Love Gets Justice: A Sequel "To His Fate." (no date)
The Hidden Hand (1888)
A Leap in the Dark: A Novel (1889)
Unknown; or the Mystery of Raven Rocks (1889)
Nearest and Dearest: A Novel (1889)
Little Nea's Engagement: A Sequel to "Nearest and Dearest." (1889)
For Woman's Love: A Novel (1890)
An Unrequited Love: a Sequel to For Woman's Love (1890)
The Lost Lady of Lone (1890)
The Unloved Wife: A Novel (1890)
When the Shadow's Darken: A Sequel to the Unloved Wife (no date)
Lilith: A Sequel to "The Unloved Wife" (1891)
Gloria: A Novel (1891)
David Lindsay: A Sequel to Gloria (1891)
"Em": A Novel (1892)
Em's Husband (1892)
The Mysterious Marriage: A Sequel to "A Leap in the Dark" (1893)
A Skeleton in the Closet: A Novel (1893)
Brandon Coyle's Wife: A Sequel to "A Skeleton in the Closet" (1893)
Only a Girl's Heart: A Novel (1893)
The Rejected Bride (1894)
Gertrude Haddon (1894)
Sweet Love's Atonement: A Novel (1904)
Zenobia's Suitors: Sequel to Sweet Love's Atonement (1904)
The Struggle of a Soul: A Sequel to "The Lost Lady of Lone" (1904)
Her Mother's Secret (1910)
Love's Bitterest Cup: A Sequel to Her Mother's Secret" (1910)
When Shadow's Die: A Sequel to "Love's Bitterest Cup" (1910)
When Love Commands (no date)
Fulfilling Her Destiny: A Sequel to When Love Commands (no date)
The Initials: A Story of Modern Life (no date)
Capitola's Peril: A Sequel to The Hidden Hand (no date)