Susanna Rowson – författare

Rowson’s tale of a young girl who elopes to the United States only to be abandoned by her fiancé was once the bestselling novel in American literary history. This edition also includes Lucy Temple, the fascinating story of Charlotte’s orphaned daughter.

The `Sentimental Novel' was extremely popular in America after the Revolution, Written in a tradition established by Samuel Richardson, they told tales of vice and virtue based on true stories. Charlotte Temple and The Coquette by Hannah W. Foster (see below) were two of the most successful novels of the period. Reissued in paperback editions with new introductions, they offer a glimpse of the earliest American popular fiction. Both are also announced in the Oxford General Books catalogue for Autumn 1987.

Lucy Temple (1828) is a novel by Susanna Rowson. Inspired in part by the author’s experiences in America—she was brought there by her father, a Royal Navy officer, and place under house arrest during the American Revolution—Lucy Temple, the sequel to her bestselling novel Charlotte Temple, fits squarely into the popular genre of the seduction novel. Alongside such works as Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette (1797), Rowson’s novel continues to inform scholars on the historical portrayal of women’s sexuality in English and American literature. “Such an assemblage of youth and innocence naturally attracted the young soldiers: they stopped; and, as the little cavalcade passed, almost involuntarily pulled off their hats. A tall, elegant girl looked at Montraville and blushed: he instantly recollected the features of Charlotte Temple, whom he had once seen and danced with at a ball at Portsmouth.” From this brief chance encounter, so much suffering ensues. Not long after meeting her on the street, Lieutenant John Montraville seduces young Charlotte and convinces her to leave her family and friends behind to join him in the new world. There, spurred on by rumors of infidelity and harboring his own sinister motives, he soon abandons his innocent wife, leaving her alone in a country where nobody knows her name. Although her father reaches her in time to see her once more, she soon succumbs to illness and poverty, leaving a young daughter behind. Lucy Temple is a tragic story of romance and morality from a leading writer and educator of her time. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Susanna Rowson’s Lucy Temple is a classic work of British-American literature reimagined for modern readers.