Written in epistolary form and drawn from actual events, Brown’s The Power of Sympathy (1789) and Foster’s The Coquette (1797) were two of the earliest novels published in the United States. Both novels reflect the eighteenth-century preoccupation with the role of women as safekeepers of the young country’s morality.

The Power of Sympathy and The Coquette (Penguin Classics)

Literature & Fiction

William Hill Brown

Hannah Webster Foster

United States

Penguin Publishing Group

Eliza is a tease who inevitably ruins her life with her actions. Eliza is engaged to a rich old man who dies while in her care. She is now single and has no intention of ever getting married. She is torn between a young minister and a suitor with less than moral intentions. Who will she choose and what will the consequences be for her?

The Coquette - The History of Eliza Wharton

Hannah Webster Foster, Webster Foster

Biographies & Memoirs

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Books by Hannah Webster Foster