Marion Rust

This review applies only to the novel Charlotte Temple, not to the accompanying material found in this Norton Critical Edition:

Young innocent Charlotte Temple is seduced and abandoned by manipulative cad Montraville and further deceived by his evil friend Belcour. This short work, an example of an early American “sentimental novel” is filled with crying, fainting and other emotional displays brought about by insupportable feelings. I was surprised by how well it kept me reading, despite the predictability of the plot and the one-dimensional nature of the characters. A worthwhile slice of literary history.… (mer)

What would have happened if Mr Darcy had not interested himself in the fate of silly Lydia Bennet? Well, Charlotte Temple is a ‘what might have been’ when a young girl of fifteen is swept off her feet by the dashing Montraville and runs away from her school with the connivance of her French governess – a woman with her own agenda entirely. The ensuing story is Charlotte’s life after the great romantic escape and does not feature a Mr Darcy figure ready with his ‘generous compassion … [to] bear so many mortifications’ to make everything well and happy. A short and fascinating novella encapsulating a common fate the frivolous and wilful Lydia Bennet deserved far more than Charlotte Temple.… (mer)