Hesba Stretton was the pseudonym of Sarah Smith (27 July 1832 - 8 October 1911), an Evangelical English author of religious books for children. These were highly popular. By the late 19th century Jessica's First Prayer had sold a million and a half copies - ten times more than Alice in Wonderland. She concocted "Hesba Stretton" from the initials of herself and four surviving siblings, along with the name of a Shropshire village she visited, All Stretton. Smith was one of the most popular Evangelical writers of the 19th century, who used her "Christian principles as a protest against specific social evils in her children's books." Her moral tales and semi-religious stories, chiefly for the young, were printed in huge numbers and often chosen as school and Sunday-school prizes. Altogether she wrote more than 40 novels.