The Coquette

A spirited heroine. A dangerous flirtation. A society unwilling to forgive.

Published anonymously in 1797, The Coquette quickly became one of the most widely read novels of early America. Inspired by the real-life story of Elizabeth Whitman—an intelligent and accomplished young woman whose tragic death became a national scandal—Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel explores the pressures placed on women in a world that offers them few real choices.

Eliza Wharton is recently released from an unwanted engagement and eager to enjoy her freedom. But her charm and independence attract unwanted scrutiny, especially when she becomes the object of attention from both a respectable clergyman and a dangerously attractive libertine. As the letters fly and public judgement closes in, Eliza’s story becomes a subtle but powerful meditation on reputation, agency and the human cost of social conformity.

This P-Wave Classics edition includes:

• The full text of Foster’s original 1797 novel
• The 1855 Historical Preface by Jane E. Locke
• Caroline Wells Healey Dall’s 1875 response, The Romance of the Association

Together, they offer a rare glimpse into the literary afterlife of The Coquette and the fierce cultural debate surrounding the woman who inspired it.

Edited with notes and an introduction by L. A. Davenport.

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"I had never heard of Elizabeth Whitman. I’m glad I picked this story out for the history in it. I would highly recommend reading it." Susan B, NetGalley.

Hannah Webster Foster (1758–1840) was an American novelist, essayist and advocate for women's education. Raised in Massachusetts and well-educated for her time, she wrote anonymously on moral and social topics before publishing her influential epistolary novel The Coquette (1797), based on the real-life tragedy of Elizabeth Whitman. The novel explores themes of reputation, female agency and societal constraint, and became one of early America’s most widely read works. Her second novel, The Boarding School (1798), promoted rational education for girls. Though she later withdrew from public authorship, Foster’s works continue to be read for their insight into the challenges facing women in the early American republic.

L. A. Davenport, born in Cork, Ireland, in 1973, is a novelist and short story writer whose works include The Nucleus of Reality, Escape, and No Way Home. A graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he brings extensive experience in medical journalism to his insightful and engaging fiction and non-fiction.

Learn more about L. A. Davenport and his writing at Pushing the Wave.