English teacher and successful novelist Sara Hawks Sterling of Pennsylvania wrote popular works about well-known figures of European history and legend. Photo credit: Public Domain.

Many a talented classroom educator has also achieved acclaim as an author. One of these is Sara Hawks Sterling, a high school English teacher from Pennsylvania who became a successful novelist. Her published works include popular fiction tales about well-known figures of European history and legend.

Sara was born in Philadelphia. As a young woman, she attended schools in her home town, including the Girls’ High and Normal School and the M. M. Jones’ School. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1918.

Once she earned her degree, Sara inaugurated her career as a teacher of English at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, where she worked from 1906 to 1912. She left that position to teach at the West Philadelphia High School for Girls. During her years as a professional educator, she became a member of the Women Teachers’ Organization.

While teaching, Sara published many novels about historical and legendary figures, including King Arthur, Robin Hood, and Anne Hathaway. Her novel entitled Shakespeare’s Sweetheart, published in 1905, was an early effort to portray William Shakespeare’s life and romances from the woman’s perspective. In 1900, Sara published Hamlet’s Brides: A Shakespearean Burlesque in One Act. In 1907, she wrote A lady of King Arthur’s Court: Being a Romance of the Holy Grail. In 1921, she published Robin Hood and His Merry Men.

In addition to her classroom responsibilities and her writing, Sara was a member of the Browning Society of Philadelphia, the Dickens Fellowship, the Shakespeare Company, and the Women’s Press Association.

You can read the most popular novels by Sara Hawks Sterling online for free at the following link to the Online Books Page.