The Emigrants, &c. or the History of an Expatriated Family, Being a Delineation of English Manners, Drawn from Real Characters

Tells the trials of an English emigrant family in the Ohio River Valley and especially the development of a utopian community there. The novel unfolds in 72 letters—many written and posted in Pittsburgh—with plots and subplots that unfold in Western Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, London, and Kentucky. The novel contrasts the rigidity of class, gender, and politics in England with the promise of social justice in American communes west of the Allegheny Mountains.

Gilbert Imlay (1754-1828) was an American businessman, author, and diplomat. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97), born in London, was an English writer, philosopher, and women's rights advocate.