Warner, Susan

Warner, Susan (Bogert) (Elizabeth Wetherell, pen name)

(1819–85) writer; born in New York City. After economic setbacks, she and her family lived on Constitution Island in the Hudson River near West Point. To help earn money for the family, she wrote many novels and books for children; her sister, Anna B. Warner, would collaborate on some of her books. She is best known for her first novel, The Wide Wide World (1852), about a young orphan and her spiritual development. Her work was characterized by piety, sentimentality, a lack of action, and an overabundance of tears—a popular mix in that era.