Sibling Romance in American Fiction, 1835-1900 establishes the narrative of sibling love as a culturally significant tradition in nineteenth-century American fiction. Focusing on novels of the antebellum and post-Civil War eras, this book examines fictional siblings, particularly in the context of national crisis, from the threat of South Carolina's secession from the national union in the 1830s to the post-Reconstruction crisis of racial segregation in the 1890s. Drawing upon historical study, literary analysis, philosophical methods, and psychoanalysis, this thought-provoking book suggest that by significantly shifting the focus of their narratives from courtship to sibling love, these novels contribute to historical conversations about affiliation in such tumultuous contexts as sectional divisions, debates over slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.

This study posits that the narrative of sibling love as a culturally significant tradition in nineteenth-century American fiction. Ultimately, Emily E. VanDette suggests that these novels contribute to historical conversations about affiliation in such tumultuous contexts as sectional divisions, slavery debates, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.