Introduction

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, natives Corinna Brown (b. 1812) and Ellen Brown (b. 1814) moved to Mandarin, Florida, in 1835, to Key West in 1849, and to New York in 1850. As documented in their personal letters, they pursued writing careers throughout their adult lives, but published only one story each. The Storm could have been started as early as late May of 1849 when the sisters arrived in Key West. Corinna possibly helped at first, but Ellen completed it after 1853, while Corinna’s health steadily declined until her death in 1854. Ellen’s daughter, Georgia, served as her amanuensis and probably penned the tale’s final copy. Ellen’s artist brother Mannevillette probably made the accompanying drawings, though Georgia or her sister Villette possibly helped. Ellen continued to write fiction and essays until her death in 1862. The Storm is one of the first works of fiction written by a woman in Florida, the first work of Florida fiction written with a first-person female narrator, and the first Key West story written from a woman’s perspective featuring domestic life. It examines the weakness of girls’ education in nineteenth-century America and challenges antebellum women’s limited mobility and their restricted role in marriage and society.