Memoirs of Emma Courtney is an epistolary novel

Epistolary novel

An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...

 by Mary Hays

Mary Hays

Mary Hays was an English novelist and feminist.- Early years :Mary Hays was born in Southwark, London on Oct. 13, 1759. Almost nothing is known of her first 17 years. In 1779 she fell in love with John Eccles who lived on Gainsford Street, where she also lived. Their parents opposed the match but...

, first published in 1796. The novel is partly autobiographical and based on the author's own unrequited love for William Frend

William Frend (social reformer)

William Frend was an English clergyman , social reformer and writer. After a high-profile university trial in Cambridge deprived of his residency rights as fellow of his college, he became a leading figure in London radical circles.-Early life:Son of a Canterbury trader, he was born on 22 November...

 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37525?docPos=1. Mary Hay's relationship with William Godwin

William Godwin

William Godwin was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and the first modern proponent of anarchism...

 is reflected through her eponymous heroine's philosophical correspondence with Mr Francis. Contemporary moralists were scandalised at the novel's treatment of female passion, but Hays has more recently been called a "feminist pioneer" http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,1566410,00.html. Contemporary critics wrote of the apparently contrived ending that it was fantastical and unbelievable.

Plot summary

The novel consists of a series of philosophical letters from the heroine, Emma Courtney, to Augustus Harley. Emma is deeply in love with Augustus Harley but her pursuit of him fails - his income is only secure as long as he remains unmarried. Although she initially refuses to accept a life of security by marrying her admirer Mr. Montague, Emma eventually accepts when Augustus Harley is revealed to be already married, and Emma herself is facing financial hardship. Emma's marriage results in a series of tragedies, despite the appearance of a beloved daughter, and her passion for her first love never ceases. Near the end of the novel the two will meet again under unfortunate circumstances. Harley dies after an accident, and Montague commits suicide after impregnating a maid. Emma adopts Harley's eldest son, and devotes herself to the lives of her children.

Impact

Reviews of the novel were mixed. The Memoirs of Emma Courtney was taken to be the true story of Hay's own life, and led various critics to mock and caricature her http://www.chawton.org/library/biographies/hays.html.

The novel addresses issues of female sexual passion, adultery

Adultery

Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...

, infanticide

Infanticide

Infanticide or infant homicide is the killing of a human infant. Neonaticide, a killing within 24 hours of a baby's birth, is most commonly done by the mother.In many past societies, certain forms of infanticide were considered permissible...

 and suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

, as well as philosophical musings on the status of women in society. Emma reflects on "the inequalities of society, the source of every misery and vice, and on the peculiar disadvanteges of my sex". Conservative readers would have been particularly shocked when Emma at one point offers herself to Augustus without demanding marriage.