Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World

The wickedly funny 18th-century bestseller that Jane Austen adored, following an innocent country girl's dazzling and mortifying debut in fashionable London.

First published anonymously in 1778, Frances Burney's Evelina; or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World made its young author famous overnight. Told entirely in letters, it follows the beautiful, unworldly Evelina Anville as she leaves her rural guardian for the assemblies, operas, and pleasure gardens of Georgian London, where every glittering social occasion becomes a comedy of blunders, snobbery, and unwanted suitors.

Sharp, satirical, and irresistibly witty, this landmark epistolary novel of manners bridges the world of Samuel Richardson and the coming brilliance of Jane Austen. Its embarrassing relations, scheming fops, and the steadfast Lord Orville have delighted readers for more than two centuries. A cornerstone of 18th-century English literature and one of the great early novels by a woman.

This is a Lightbound Library edition from Solocosmo Press, featuring an original cover painting by Jessica von Braun.