Lucinda; or, The Mountain Mourner is an epistolary novel by P. D. Manvill (1764–1849), first published in 1807. A bestseller at the time, it was widely distributed and went through numerous editions.[1]
In Lucinda, the eponymous protagonist is raped, becomes pregnant, descends into poverty, and dies shortly after giving birth. Booher classifies Lucinda as a work of sentimental fiction. In particular, following Nina Baym, she describes it as a "novel of seduction", in which the female protagonist becomes pregnant and comes to a tragic end as a result. Cathy Davidson, following Helen Papashvily, argues that Lucinda marks an end of the seduction plot in American literature—with Hester Prynne as one outlier in this regard.[2]
Booher likens Lucinda to The Coquette (1797), noting that both works are preoccupied with the protagonist's so-called virtue, or abstinence from premarital sex.
The work is set in upstate New York, in Saratoga Springs and near Marcellus.[3]