New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Published as part of the "Schomburg Library of Nineteenth Century Woman Writers." Foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Introduction by Frances Smith Foster. Facsimile of the title page of the second edition and of the frontispiece portrait from that edition. Long considered the only novel written by Harper (it was the only one published in book form), one of the most important African American women writers of the 19th century. Harper, who was well-known as a lecturer, first against slavery, then for the freedpeople and for temperance, was also a very popular writer. In many ways typical of the black fiction of this period, this novel features superheroes, both male and female. However, Harper was unusual in that women's lives were put first - she reversed the image of the tragic mulatto heroine by creating a character who was a political and social activist - one who chose to be black despite her light skin. She was also concerned about presenting a picture of slavery which revealed its harshness, in an attempt to counteract the revisionist images which were becoming popular late in the 19th century. xxxix, 282 pp. ISBN: 0-19-5063244.