'The Lamplighter' by Maria Susanna CumminsThe Lamplighter was the first novel by twenty seven year old Maria Susanna Cummins. It propelled her into a prominence that continued until her early death at the age of thirty nine. A novel of female development, The Lamplighter is a woman's version of the quest story. Its heroine, Gerty, comes on the scene as a child abandoned in the slums of Boston. Rescued by the kindly lamplighter Trueman Flint, she learns to meet life with courage and honesty.