A series of 70 letters which tell the touching love story of the title character, a young American widow, and Henry Colden, the only son of a wealthy but imperious sire who opposes their union. The events narrated occur in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Japan, Java and Europe of the 1790's. Another major character is Jane's adoptive mother who abhors Henry as an unbeliever and (she supposes) profligate who would ruin her daughter. I can't get over how much I admire the first (and in many respects to this day the greatest) of the Great American Novelists, Charles Brockden Brown! ( )