Elizabeth Wooster Stuart Phelps (1815–1852), who often published under the pseudonym H. Trusta, was an American author known for her religiously themed articles, children's books, and domestic fiction. Writing during a transitional period in American literature, she helped bridge the gap between domestic sentimentality and regional realism. She was among the earliest writers to depict the New England landscape and lifestyle, preceding the regional works of her contemporary and neighbor, Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Throughout her career, Phelps authored eleven books alongside numerous articles and stories, many of which were translated globally or published anonymously. She is recognized as one of the first authors to write a dedicated fiction series specifically for girls. Her narratives frequently addressed the restrictive societal roles imposed on women, highlighting the heavy burdens of motherhood and domestic life that often stifled female intellectual and creative growth.
Her most famous and widely anthologized work, the 1852 semi-autobiographical short story "The Angel Over the Right Shoulder," vividly illustrates the internal conflict of a wife striving to cultivate her own mind while managing domestic duties. This struggle between artistic ambition and domestic expectation was a central theme of her own life. Her daughter, the writer Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, later reflected that this intense internal conflict ultimately claimed her mother's life, describing it as a "civil war" between caretaking and creative expression.
