Charlotte Smith's Emmeline, or, The Orphan of the Castle

In an exploration of the societal limitations for women regarding marriage and property in the eighteenth century, this gothic masterpiece is an early work of feminist fiction.

Emmeline is orphaned and raised in a grand castle in the English countryside by her uncle, Lord Montreville. The legitimacy of Emmeline's birth cannot be proven and so she has no property to inherit and no social standing with which to find herself a husband and security. As she navigates the treacherous landscape o...