Maria Susanna Cooper was born Maria Susanna Bransby in Shotesham, Norfolk, on 20 August 1737. She became an author of novels, children’s writing and poetry during the second half of the eighteenth century.

She married the clergyman Samuel Cooper in 1761. Her earliest writing appears to have included children’s books, although these have not been identified. Her first known novel, Letters between Emilia and Harriet, was published in 1762.

Cooper became best known for The Exemplary Mother, published in two volumes in 1769. Like much of her fiction, it used letters to explore domestic relationships and women’s expected conduct within the family. Her work was didactic and generally supported conventional ideas about the roles of daughters, wives and mothers.

Her books were often published without her name. Some appeared under descriptions such as ‘the authoress of The Exemplary Mother’, allowing readers to connect new works with the book for which she was already known.

Cooper continued publishing during the 1770s, including further novels and a poetic epistle. Other works appeared after she died in 1807, including Moral Tales and the novel The Wife; or, Caroline Herbert.