LAURA Z. HOBSON, American novelist (d. 1986); The daughter of Jewish socialist immigrants, Hobson graduated from Cornell University. In July, 1930, she married Francis Thayer Hobson, owner of William Morrow & 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 and became pregnant in 1941, raising both children on her own. After 1940 she devoted herself to writing. On April 27 1947, her most famous work, Gentleman’s Agreement, reached #1 on the The New York Times best sellers’ list. A later novel, Consenting Adult (1975), about a mother dealing with her son’s homosexuality, was based on her experience with her son, Christopher.