Widely accepted to be the first American novel, The Power of Sympathy details a fictionalized version of a real scandal in New England at that time. The real scandal was an instance of seduction when a man took the sister of his own wife. Once the woman conceived, she was overcome by grief and shame and killed herself.
In the fictional events, the nature of the controversy is slightly different. Through a series of letters, we meet Jack Worthy and Thomas Harrington who has fallen for a woman called Harriot Fawcet. Worthy encourages Harrington to pursue her openly according to the social customs of the time, but instead Harriot and Harrington indulge in a secretive affair.
Myra Harrington, Thomas's sister, then learns from a townsperson that Harriot is in fact Thomas and Myra's own sister, illegitimately conceived by an affair of her father's.
When Harriot and Harrington learn that their affair is also incestuous, Harriot falls into a terrible consumption and dies. Her suitor and brother then kills himself from confusion and grief.
