Charlotte Temple

Susanna Rowson’s tale of a ruined innocent was among the most popular novels in early America, reprinted more than a hundred times and wept over by generations of readers. Charlotte Temple is a fifteen-year-old English schoolgirl persuaded to elope with a dashing army officer, Montraville, who carries her across the Atlantic and then, under pressure and temptation, abandons her pregnant and friendless in New York. Rowson tells the story as a frank warning to young women, speaking directly to her readers and insisting the events are drawn from truth. Sentimental and openly moralizing, it became a foundational American bestseller, and readers visited a supposed grave as though Charlotte had really lived. First published in 1791. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.