Eleanor Hallowell Abbott

Eleanor Hallowell Abbott was an American novelist and short-story writer known for lively dialogue, romantic comedy, and carefully observed New England settings. Molly Make-Believe, published in 1910, became one of her best-known early novels. The White Linen Nurse followed in 1913, Little Eve Edgarton in 1914, and The Indiscreet Letter in 1915. Her later books include Peace on Earth, Good-will to Dogs from 1920 and the 1922 collection Fairy Prince and Other Stories. These works show Abbott moving easily between compact novels, holiday tales, and short fiction shaped by eccentric households, courtship, letters, and imaginative children. Several first appeared during a period when her stories were also reaching national magazines. Abbott grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a literary family and later lived in Wilton, New Hampshire, with her husband, physician Fordyce Coburn. The six titles span several publishers and more than a decade. Together they present a broader view of her career than any single popular romance can provide.