biography
| name: |
Rowson, Susanna
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née Haswell
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| sex:
| female
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| lived:
| (c.1762–1824)
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| biography:
| Writer, actress and educator, born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, S England, UK. Her mother died when she was born, and Susanna joined her remarried father, a naval lieutenant stationed in Massachusetts. She returned to England (1778), married (1787), and began writing sentimental novels and verse. Her novel, Charlotte, A Tale of Truth (1791; published in America in 1794 as Charlotte Temple), became the first best-seller in the USA. When her husband's fortunes failed, she turned to acting and produced plays - many of her own - in America (1793–6). In 1797 she founded a girls' boarding school near Boston, MA, which she conducted until 1822 while writing novels, poetry, and didactic work for children and editing and contributing to various periodicals. |
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