Lucy Temple is Susana Rowson's continuation of her best seller novel Charlotte Temple. Lucy Temple's story is about the tragic life of the daughter of Charlotte Temple. Rowson gives details on how Charlotte dies after giving birth to Lucy and, Charlotte's parents take care of Lucy. Lucy Temple is the story of a young girl who experiences a tragic love affair.
The novel starts off introducing the main character of the novel Charlotte Temple and her lover John Montraville. Readers get to know how Lucy started living with her foster parent Mr. Mathews after her grandparents die. Lucy grows up into a beautiful maiden. She is a considerate, pious and, lovable lady and, her foster father adores her very much.
The second main character of the story is Edmund Franklin. Edmund loves Lucy very dearly and wishes to marry her. Lucy is also smitten with Edmund's charming personality and gives her consent for marriage. Edmund goes to meet his bedridden father to tell him about his marriage and shows the picture of Lucy to him. Edmund comes to know that Lucy is his father's illegitimate child, and it makes them half siblings.
This very fact shocks him to the core, and he never returns to Lucy because he couldn't muster the courage to tell her the truth. Broken heart Lucy hears that Edmund dies in a battle, and she devotes her whole life to helping others.The Plot of the novel is nearly the same as Rowson's first novel Charlotte Temple because both of the stories have a tragic end.
