The novels of Leonora Sansay are fascinating examples of early American fiction. She dealt with social issues such as revolution, slavery, and yellow-fever epidemics as well as a more typical theme of novels by women of her era--seduction. Her treatment of these subjects is unusual, as is her approach to the genre of sentimental fiction. Revealing political and social ideas that diverged somewhat from dominant beliefs, Sansay's novels can enrich the modern reader's understanding of the social outlook of early American fiction.

Little is known about the early life of Leonora Sansay; even her name is somewhat uncertain. Basing his conclusions on an inscription in a copy of her anonymously published first novel, Philadelphia book collector Philip S. Lapsansky has asserted that Sansay was likely the daughter of William Hassall, a Philadelphia innkeeper, but that attributions of the novel to "Mary Hassall" are probably based on the incorrect...