Paula Lenor Webb
​September 15, 2022

Octavia Walton LeVert was the granddaughter of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the daughter of the first Secretary for Florida, and the first woman to represent the United States outside the country. She was exposed to wealth, privilege, and fame; a rare advantage for a woman of her time. Her literary salon in Mobile, Alabama, and the publication of her only book, Souvenirs of Travel, resulted in international fame until her Union sympathies during the Civil War ended it all. Such a Woman, named so because the famous writer Washington Irving, regarding Octavia, stated, “A woman such as appears but once in the course of an empire.” It is a book about a lady whose journals and letters have allowed the reader a peek into the life of the real Octavia Walton LeVert. In a world led by men, her grace, beauty, and intellect allowed her to shine unlike any other.

The author, Paula Lenor Webb, has a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Alabama. She is currently a tenured Librarian at the University of South Alabama, in Mobile. Ms. Webb has always enjoyed research and documented her local history findings in her first book, Mobile Under Siege: Surviving the Union Blockade, in 2016. She has continued pursuing this avenue of research with her latest book, Such a Woman: The Life of Octavia Walton LeVert.