Edward Noyes Westcott

Edward Noyes Westcott was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1846. He worked as a banker and businessman for most of his life, only turning to fiction writing in his final years. Diagnosed with tuberculosis, he wrote his sole novel, "David Harum: A Story of American Life," while seeking treatment in Europe. The novel, completed shortly before his death in 1898, was published posthumously and became an immediate sensation. It tells the story of a shrewd, kindly small-town banker and horse trader in upstate New York, capturing the dialect and humor of rural America. "David Harum" sold over a million copies and was adapted into a successful play and film, securing Westcott's place in American literary history as a one-book author whose work defined a genre of regional realism.