Charlotte Temple

Charlotte Temple is a book by British-American novelist Susanna Rowson, first published in 1791 under the title 'Charlotte, A Tale of Truth'. It tells the story of a schoolgirl of fifteen who begins a love affair with a lieutenant in the British army. Her boarding school teacher Mademoiselle La Rue encourages her to run away to America with Montraville, the man who seduced her, and his libertine friend Belcour. Once in America however Charlotte is quickly forced to abandon her hopes of romance and trust. Montraville loses interest in her, and she is betrayed by those she thought she could count upon, leaving her to fend for herself. The novel was the most popular best-seller in American literature until Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in 1851.