Laura Z. Hobson

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Laura Kean Zametkin (June 19, 1900 – February 28, 1986), whose books appeared under the name Laura Z. Hobson, was an American novelist. She is best-known for her novels Gentleman's Agreement (1947), a study of anti-semitism, and Consenting Adult (1975), about a mother dealing with her son's coming out as gay, which she based on her own experience with her son, Christopher Z. Hobson, who went on to become a leader of the Revolutionary Socialist League.

Daughter of Michael and Adella, Jewish socialist immigrants, she studied at Cornell University and married Francis Thayer Hobson in 1930. In the early 1930s she began writing advertising copy and short stories. In 1934 she joined the promotional staff of the magazines published by Henry Luce (Time, Life, and Fortune).

In 1935 her marriage with Hobson ended in divorce, when she refused on principle to accept alimony. In 1937 she decided to adopt a baby and became pregnant in 1941, raising both children on her own. This experience inspired her to write The Tenth Month, about single motherhood.

After 1940 she devoted herself entirely to writing, producing a total of nine novels and hundreds of short stories and magazine articles, as well as co-writing the screenplay for the 1954 film Her Twelve Men, starring Greer Garson.