Laura Kean Zametkin (19 June, 1900 – 28 February, 1986) was an American novelist.
Daughter of Jewish socialist immigrants, she graduated from Cornell University. On 23 July 1930, she married Francis Thayer Hobson, owner of William Morrow and 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. She became pregnant in 1941, raising both children on her own.
After 1940 she devoted herself to writing. On 27 April 1947, her most famous work, Gentleman's Agreement, reached #1 on the The New York Times best-sellers' list and sold over 1.6 million copies. A later novel, Consenting Adult (1975), about a mother dealing with her son's homosexuality, was ba<x>sed on her experience with her son, Christopher. It was adapted as a made-for-TV movie in 1985.
Hobson died on 28 February, 1986 in New York City.