Written in 1822, A New-England Tale is the first of Catharine Sedgwick's twenty novels published in her lifetime. It concerns the moral and religious development of a young orphan girl in rural New England, and provides an intriguing sketch of the social, political, and religious climate of early America, and of the methods of representation by early women writers. The editors' introduction locates the novel in its historical and political context, and provides a biographical sketch of Sedgwick.