SOURCE: “An Analysis of Miss Sedgwick's Novels,” in Catharine Maria Sedgwick: Her Position in the Literature and Thought of Her Time Up to 1860, Catholic University of America, 1937, pp. 21-34.

In the following essay, Welsh offers an overview of Sedgwick's best known novels, including A New England Tale, Hope Leslie, and The Linwoods.

Since it would hardly serve any great purpose to consider the work of Miss Sedgwick chronologically, it seems better to examine her work by forms. In the matter of importance her novels come first. It is through her six novels that she is best known by the critics of American literature. Especially important are Hope Leslie, 1827, and The Linwoods, 1835; but the analysis will proceed not according to their importance, but in the order of their publication. The plan is to give a brief summary of the plot, then, to consider the various elements contained in each...