Frances Burney

In Evelina or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World, the title character leaves her isolated country home for vibrant London society. As she stumbles through the city, she encounters many people including the handsome, Lord Orville. Evelina is a young woman who's spent her entire childhood in seclusion. Although the legitimate daughter of Sir John Belmont, she was raised in the country with Reverend Villars. When Evelina is offered...

When heiress Cecilia Beverley receives an inheritance from her uncle, the Dean, it comes with the stipulation that her future husband must change his name to Beverley. Besieged by suitors only after her fortune, Cecilia eventually falls in love with the only son and heir of a proud family-one that prevents him from changing his name. A social satire, Cecilia is both a love story and an examination of British upper-class conventions. Originally published...

The Wanderer or Female Difficulties follows a woman fleeing France to escape a painful past, only to be met with new obstacles along the way. It's an honest depiction of eighteenth-century life without the presence of political or familial support. A wandering woman emigrates to England to escape the violent uprising of 1790s France. With no friends or family, she must find work and connect with others for assistance. Her lack of finances and social...

Raised in seclusion until her seventeenth birthday, Evelina is exposed to London society for the first time while in the company of the fashionable Lady Howard. Evelina's lack of aristocratic upbringing quickly becomes apparent, but undaunted by her lack of awareness of the customs and conventions of eighteenth-century London, Evelina strives to win the love of established nobleman Lord Orville. Published anonymously, Frances Burney's Evelina is a...