Anna Maria Hall

Anna Maria Hall (6 January 1800 – 30 January 1881) was an Irish novelist who often published as "Mrs. S.C. Hall".

She was born Anna Maria Fielding in Dublin, but left Ireland at the age of 15. Nevertheless, her home country was the theme for several of her most successful books, such as "Sketches of Irish Character" (1829), "Lights and Shadows of Irish Character" (1838), "Marian" (1839), and "The Whiteboy" (1845).

She wrote numerous stories for children, like "Grandmamma's Pockets" (1849) and "Midsummer Eve: a fairy tale of love" (1870), and from 1828 to 1837 she was editor of the "Juvenile Forget Me Not", an annual published in London.

Other works are "The Buccaneer", and many sketches in the "Art Journal", of which her husband, Samuel Carter Hall (1800 - 1889), was editor. With him she also collaborated on a work entitled "Ireland, its Scenery, Character, etc."

Mrs. Hall was a prolific writer; her descriptive talents were considerable, as also was her power of depicting character. She wrote some 50 titles, but few are still remembered. Her emphasis on moral 'lessons' may limit her appeal. Her husband was a writer on art (ballads, sculpture, etc.) who wrote "Retrospect of a Long Life, from 1815 to 1883" (London, 1883) in which he describes her very well.

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