Fannie Hurst was an American novelist and short-story writer whose works were extremely popular after World War I. Her art merged nostalgic, romantic themes with contemporary societal challenges including women's rights and race relations. She was one of the most popular female novelists of the twentieth century, and in the 1920s, she was one of the highest-paid American writers. Hurst also actively supported a variety of social causes, including feminism, African American equality, and New Deal initiatives. Hurst was born on October 19, 1885, in Hamilton, Ohio, to shoe factory owner Samuel Hurst and his wife Rose, both assimilated Jewish emigrants from Bavaria. Hurst's younger sister died of diphtheria at the age of three, leaving her parents with only one surviving child. She grew raised on 5641 Cates Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri, and attended Central High School. She attended Washington University and graduated in 1909 at the age of twenty-four. In her autobiography, she described her family as comfortably middle-class, with the exception of a two-year stay in a boarding home caused by a severe financial slump, which piqued her initial interest in the condition of the poor. Hurst was born on October 19, 1885, in Hamilton, Ohio, to Samuel Hurst, a shoe factory owner, and his wife Rose, an assimilated Jewish emigrant from Bavaria. Hurst's younger sister died of diphtheria when she was three years old, leaving her parents with only one surviving child.
