Historical Context
The novel mirrors a local New England scandal involving Brown's neighbor Perez Morton's incestuous seduction of Fanny Apthorp; Apthorp was Morton's sister-in-law. Apthorp became pregnant and committed suicide, but Morton was not legally punished. The scandal was widely known, so most readers were able to quickly identify the "real" story behind the fiction: "in every essential, Brown's story is an indictment of Morton and an exoneration of Fanny Apthorp," with "Martin" and "Ophelia" representing Morton and Apthorp, respectively.
A century after William Hill Brown’s death in 1793, Arthur Bayley, editor of The Bostonian published a serial publication of The Power of Sympathy, attributing the work to Sarah Wentworth Morton of Boston, a poetess. Through much of the 19th century, the author was believed to be female.
Read more about this topic: The Power Of Sympathy
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