Sarah Elizabeth Forbush Downs (1843-1926) was a "dime novelist" from the United States. She wrote novels under her own name, as "Mrs. Georgie Sheldon", and as "Mrs. George Sheldon Downs". Downs received her education at the Ladies' Collegiate Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1868, she married George Sheldon Downs. Her career began with newspaper contributions in 1869. She was signed by Theodore Dreiser to write for his Smith's Magazine. Dreiser considered her to be one of the "three most popular authors in the world." Between 1880 and 1889, she serialized 47 romances for Street and Smith's New York Weekly. She was the author of Virgie's Inheritance (1887), Audrey's Recompense (1896), Katherine's Sheaves (1904), and A Girl in a Thousand (1918).