E.D.E.N. Southworth’s Hidden Hand: The Untold Story of America’s Famous Forgotten Nineteenth-Century Author

Uncover the legacy of E.D.E.N. Southworth, the trailblazing novelist whose daring heroines and progressive ideals captivated a generation, only to be forgotten by history--until now

E.D.E.N. Southworth (Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte) was one of the nineteenth century’s most prolific and successful authors, with more novels to her credit than Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Mark Twain combined. Readers loved her feisty heroines who rode horses, shot pistols, captured notorious villains, became sea captains, and had other such grand adventures. In 1859, countless readers named their daughters Capitola after their favorite character in Southworth’s best-selling The Hidden Hand.

In her fifty-plus novels, Southworth wrote about unspeakable topics for the time, including alcoholism, domestic violence, poverty, and capital punishment--all nicely tucked away within the pages of her ＂domestic fiction.＂ Despite being raised in a slave-owning family, she wrote for The National Era (a known abolitionist magazine), supported emancipation, and encouraged her longtime friend Harriet Beecher Stowe to publish Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Southworth also advocated for better education for girls and better living conditions for the poor and joined the early women’s rights movement.

Although Southworth achieved international fame in her lifetime, knowledge of her work virtually disappeared as readers were drawn to the new Modernist literature. Because Southworth never discussed her progressive views publicly--a necessity as a single mother who made a living by her pen--she has long been incorrectly categorized as being against causes she in fact supported. Now, by combining details from Southworth’s novels, newspapers, and personal letters, Rose Neal has set the record straight, piecing together the fascinating life of a woman who was as determined as the heroines she created.

After more than twelve years of researching American author E.D.E.N. Southworth, Rose Neal, PhD, is one of the preeminent scholars on the author’s work and life. In 2012, she finished her master’s thesis on Southworth before embarking on a doctorate in literature from Swansea University in Wales, where she successfully defended her dissertation on Southworth’s impact on female education. Dr. Neal has also presented numerous academic papers about the author at professional conferences and libraries. While researching and writing about Southworth’s fifty-plus novels, Dr. Neal also discovered that the novelist lived a fascinating life that spanned most of the nineteenth century--a story that Dr. Neal believed needed to be told. After a twenty-plus-year career in teaching, both at the high school and university levels, Dr. Neal retired and is now devoting herself full-time to a second career as a writer. In addition to her love of research and storytelling, she enjoys traveling with her husband, Chris, and spending time in her garden. She lives in Edmond, Oklahoma.