Best known work

• Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852

Genres

• Fiction - Novels
• Journalism
• Poetry
• Biography / Autobiography

Nom de plume

Christopher Crowfield, Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe

Social class

Middle class

Parental background

Her father was an evangelical preacher and she attended a school from the age of eight.

At publication of best known work

• Age: 41
• Marital status: Married
• Number of children: 6

Physical description

"Wavy brown hair brushed aside and falling down in curls behind her ears" and "wideset brown eyes" (Glasgow Herald Sept 23 1868)

Did you know?

Stowe had a long and loving relationship with her husband, who fully supported her literary endeavours. In a letter to her in 1842 he writes "My dear, you must be a literary woman. It is so written in the book of fate. Make all your calculations accordingly. Get a good stock of health and brush up your mind. Drop the E. out of your name. It only incumbers it and interferes with the flow and euphony. Write yourself fully and always Harriet Beecher Stowe, which is a name euphonious, flowing, and full of meaning. Then my word for it, your husband will lift up his head in the gate, and your children will rise up and call you blessed" (From Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe compiled from her letters and journals by her son Charles Edward Stowe).

Additional information

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center offers a detailed account of her life and work. The Harriet Beecher Stowe Society shares scholarly work and resources on their site.