Laura Z. Hobson

Who was Laura Z. Hobson?

Laura Z. Hobson was an American novelist best known for her novel, Gentleman's Agreement.

Born Laura Kean Zametkin in New York City, the twin daughter of Jewish socialist immigrants, Michael Zametkin and Adella Kean, she graduated from Cornell University. On July 23, 1930, she married Francis Thayer Hobson, owner of William Morrow and Company. In 1934, she joined the promotional staff of Time, Life, and Fortune.

In 1935, her marriage ended in divorce. In 1937, she decided to adopt a baby, Michael. She became pregnant with her second son Christopher in 1941, raising both children on her own.

After 1940 she devoted herself to writing. Her 1943 novel, The Trespassers, depicted refugees' flight from Nazism. On April 27, 1947, her most famous work, Gentleman's Agreement, about a gentile researching antisemitism for a national magazine, reached #1 on The New York Times best-sellers' list and sold over 1.6 million copies. She also wrote First Paper, a fictionalized version of her life with her radical parents, sister and brother. A later novel, Consenting Adult, about a mother dealing with her son's homosexuality, was based on her experience with her son, Christopher.