Evelina, or, The history of a young lady's entrance into the world
Frances Burney's first and most enduringly popular novel is a vivid, satirical, and seductive account of the pleasures and dangers of fashionable life in late eighteenth-century London.
As she describes her heroine's entry into society, womanhood and, inevitably, love, Burney exposes the vulnerability of female innocence in an image-conscious and often cruel world where social snobbery and sexual aggression are played out in the public arenas of pleasure-gardens, theatre visits, and balls. But Evelina's innocence also makes her a shrewd commentator on the excesses and absurdities of manners and social ambitions—as well as attracting the attention of the eminently eligible Lord Orville.
Evelina, comic and shrewd, is at once a guide to fashionable London, a satirical attack on the new consumerism, an investigation of women's position in the late eighteenth century, and a love story. The new introduction and full notes to this edition help make this richness all the more readily available to a modern reader.
Reviews
Hannah Alexander @reviews_a_latte
Novel Ideas@efrali
Molly M@molsmcq
Melis@rusalka
Mariana@marsimu
Will Vunderink@willvunderink
Rikke Lohse@rikkel
LA@sugarghoul
Roz@irasobrietate
Kali Olson@kaliobooks
Victoria Marcos@victoriamarcose
noura@noura
Ruth Parker @ruth
Maryam Hasan@maryh
Greta V. @gretav322
Highlights
Sophia McKeehan @sophiamckeehan
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