Published in 1980, Emmeline details the local legend of a woman who becomes ostracized by everyone in her hometown in Maine after a shocking, long-held secret becomes public.

[1] Filmmaker David Hoffman posted an interview from the 1970s with a Maine journalist named Nettie Mitchell (1886-1981),[2] who at age 89 spoke about having directly known Emeline Bachelder Gurney.

[3] An operatic version by Tobias Picker (libretto by J. D. McClatchy) premiered in 1996 as a commission of the Santa Fe Opera and has enjoyed considerable success.

The lonely young girl is easily seduced by the factory owner's daughter's Irish-born husband and becomes pregnant.

She is not immediately aware of her condition, but others are: the mill expels her and the embarrassed boarding-house landlady contacts Emmeline's aunt, who lives in the neighboring town of Lynn, Massachusetts, and evicts the girl.

When Emmeline's aunt visits after the wedding, she instantly recognizes Matthew and forces him to admit that he is 21 years old, not 26 as he originally claimed.

"[5] Chicago Tribune reviewer Susan Fromberg Schaeffer drew comparisons to Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, calling it "a novel of rare knowledge and great power, masterfully told.