Hélène Adeline Guerber (1859–1929), also known as H.A. Guerber, was an American author of many books, most of which were lively retellings of myths, legends, folklore, plays, epic poetry, operas, and history. She was also a teacher. Although several books by Guerber are still in print, details about her life are scant. There are entries for her in three or four biographical sources from the early 1900s, but apart from listing the books she wrote, these sources provide almost no facts about her life. These book sources are supplemented by two short death notices, six Census records (five federal and the 1892 New York state), and her memorial on findagrave.com. Even the scant information is sometimes conflicting. Although Hélène Guerber published over two dozen books in her lifetime, as a person she is almost forgotten. According to her death announcement which appeared in the Publisher's Weekly in 1929, Guerber was born in Mt. Clemens, Michigan in 1859 (on March 9). Census records list her father as Arnold S. Guerber, born in 1830 in Italy to Swiss parents, and her mother as Emma Guerber, also born in 1830 and of Swiss nationality. Arnold arrived in America in 1845, and Emma in 1853. In 1900 they had been married for 47 years, so they must have gotten married the year Emma arrived in America - 1853. Hélène Guerber never married. She kept her maiden name all of her life and lived with her parents and siblings. By the 1920 Census, after her parents had passed away, Hélène moved to Montclair, New Jersey with her sister Adele and her niece Louise. The Publisher's Weekly notice says that at the time of her death in 1929, she had been living in Montclair for sixteen years, so she must have moved there around 1913-14. As for Hélène's education, the Publisher's Weekly death notice also says that "While Miss Guerber had very little early education, her interests led her to deal with academic classics." However, the 1914-15 Woman's Who's Who of America states that she was educated in Paris, France. It also lists her religion as Episcopalian. Paris education seems plausible. She must have spent a good deal of time in Europe, enough to research a detailed guidebook, How to Prepare for Europe: A Handbook of Historical, Literary and Artistic Data with Full Directions for Preliminary Studies and Travel Arrangements (Dodd Mead, 1906). This book exhibits a wide knowledge of European culture and travel. She obviously also felt comfortable with the French and German languages, because she wrote student readers in these languages. Less