Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte (aka "E.D.E.N.") Southworth was an American writer of more than 60 novels in the latter part of the 19th century. She was probably the most widely read author of that era. Some of her earliest works appeared in The National Era, the newspaper that printed Uncle Tom's Cabin. Like her friend Harriet Beecher Stowe, she was a supporter of social change and women's rights.
Excerpt from the book:
It was not until the morning succeeding his arrival, after breakfast, when they found themselves alone together in the drawing-room, that Justin told Erminie the story of his voyage and Shipwreck, his preservation and residence on the Desert Island, and his rescue and return home. She listened with breathless interest to his narrative, and when it was finished she earnestly thanked Heaven for his restoration to his home and friends. And then, in return, she gave him the history of all that had occurred to her since he had first sailed.