Hesba Stretton's children's story Jessica's First Prayer (1867) was popular with Victorian readers of all ages, and it influenced a generation of Victorian writers. Stretton (the pseudonym used by Sarah Smith) was the author of many periodical publications and more than fifty books. Her reputation may be summed up in Lord Shaftesbury's comment in Seed Time and Harvest (1911) that Jessica's First Prayer "will hardly find a rival for nature, simplicity, pathos and depth of Christian feeling." But Stretton was more than a sentimentalist: she was a skilled stylist who used vivid characterization, complex plotting, and engaging humor to construct her powerful narratives, and she was a vehement polemicist who used her stories to call for the redress of social injustice.

The name "Hesba" was created by Sarah Smith out of the initial letters of her name and those of her brother and three sisters; the surname was derived from...