Emmeline

Emmeline, The Orphan of the Castle is the first novel published by English writer Charlotte Turner Smith. A Cinderella story in which the heroine stands outside the traditional economic structures of English society and ends up wealthy and happy, the novel is a fantasy. At the same time, it criticizes the traditional marriage arrangements of the 18th century, which allowed women little choice and prioritized the needs of the family. Smith's criticisms of marriage stemmed from her personal experience and several of the secondary characters are thinly veiled depictions of her family, a technique which both intrigued and repelled contemporary readers.