Educated by her father and influenced by a large home library, Moodie and her sisters all began writing as children. On her father's death in 1818, the sisters earned money for the family by contributing poetry and stories to various periodicals. In 1822, Susanna published Spartacus: A Roman Story and over the ensuing years published a number of works for children. In 1831, she married John Moodie in London and the following year they immigrated to Canada where they bought a rural farm. In 1840, they moved to Belleville and she became the star contributor to the Literary Garland magazine with articles on English and Canadian life. In 1852, she published Roughing It in the Bush, a hugely successful book that established her reputation as a writer. She followed this with other works chronicling life in the wilderness of Canada which were also very successful. After 1855, Moodie's writing declined and during the 1860's the family underwent a series of financial problems. Her last years after her husband's death in 1869 were spent living with her married children. Her other works include The History of Mary Prince (1831), Negro Slavery Described by a Negro (1831), Enthusiasm and Other Poems (1831), Flora Lyndsay, or Passage in an Eventful Life (1853), Life in the Clearings Versus the Bush (1853), The Gold Worshipper (1853), Matrimonial Speculation (1854), Geoffrey Moncton (1855), The World Before Then (1868) and George Leatrim, or the Mother's Test (1875). |
