Power of Sympathy; or, the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth

Boston's most notorious family secret became America's first novel. Published anonymously in 1789, this epistolary tragedy unfolds through letters that expose the doomed romance between an orphaned young woman and a man of respectable standing. What begins as a tale of seduction and sentiment builds toward a devastating revelation that shatters every character's world. The novel was inspired by the real Apthorp scandal that convulsed Boston society, and its anonymous publication sparked over a century of speculation about the author's identity. The truth proved almost as shocking as the fiction: the likely suspect was Sarah Morton, sister to the scandal's actual victim and wife to the alleged seducer. This is early American literature at its most unflinching, a book that pulled no punches about the moral wreckage hidden behind Beacon Hill's polished facades.