The Coquette: or, The History of Eliza Wharton

A spirited heroine. A dangerous flirtation. A society unwilling to forgive.

Published anonymously in 1797, The Coquette quickly became one of the most widely read novels of early America. Inspired by the real-life story of Elizabeth Whitman-an intelligent and accomplished young woman whose tragic death became a national scandal-Hannah Webster Foster's epistolary novel explores the pressures placed on women in a world that offers them few real choices.

Eliza Wharton is recently released from a...