To a large extent Godwin establishes her own approach and message in this book. Its contrasts with other works of similar subject matter are more illuminating than the similarities.

Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) is a melodramatic tale of an idealistic vicar and fond father. Goldsmith's plotting is more intricate and coincidental, and his Dr. Primrose is more simplistic than Father Gower.

Samuel Butler's The Way of All Flesh (1903) is a classic novel of growing up in a rectory. Its protagonist clashes with the verities of his upbringing in a way completely alien to Margaret Gower.

Many fairy and folk tales have motherless girls as the heroine. The dynamic of such stories as "Snow White" and "Sleeping Beauty" is quite different from Margaret's story, much as she may have consoled herself with these tales in childhood. She has no evil stepmother to contend with, but no...