Take Two

Susan Bogert Warner was an American Presbyterian author of religious fiction, children's books, and theology writings. She is well known for The Wide, Wide World. Her previous works include Queechy, The Hills of Shatemuck, Melbourne House, Daisy, Walks from Eden, House of Israel, What She Could, Opportunities, and House in Town. Warner and her sister, Anna, authored a series of semi-religious books that were extremely successful, including Say and Seal, Christmas Stocking, Books of Blessing, 8 vols., and The Law and the Testimony. Susan Warner was born in New York City on July 11, 1819. Warner could trace her family history back to the Puritans on both sides. Her father, Henry Warner, was a New York City lawyer originating from New England, and her mother, Anna Bartlett, was from a wealthy, fashionable family in Hudson Square. When Warner was a young child, her mother died, and her father's sister, Fanny, moved in with the Warners. Despite being wealthy, the father lost the majority of his income during the Panic of 1837, as well as via following lawsuits and disastrous investments.