The narrator introduces herself as Charlotte Doyle, and this is her story about how, years earlier as a 13-year-old upper-class girl, she came to be arrested and convicted for murder. Her warning: “If strong ideas and action offend you, read no more” (1). She says she’s not the same Charlotte now as she was then.

Born in America, Charlotte spends several years in England, where her father works as an agent for an American cotton-goods company. In 1832, he gets a promotion and sails home to Providence, Rhode Island with the rest of the family: Charlotte’s mother, younger brother, and younger sister. Charlotte stays behind to finish up her year’s schooling, and she will sail for America in the summer, accompanied by two families known to her parents.

Her father gives her a book of blank pages that he expects her to fill in with a daily journal of the crossing. He believes this will be educational for her, and he’ll read it with special attention to her spelling. Beyond that, she looks forward to the voyage and expects to enjoy the company of the other families’ children.