In Ruth Hall, one of the bestselling novels of the 1850s, Fanny Fern
drew heavily on her own experiences: the death of her first child and
her beloved husband, a bitter estrangement from her family, and her
struggle to make a living as a writer. Written as a series of short
vignettes and snatches of overheard conversations, it is as
unconventional in style as in substance and strikingly modern in its
impact.