Evelina
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First published anonymously in 1778, Frances Burney’s Evelina follows a young woman’s first encounters with London society as she negotiates the uncertain privileges and perils of entering the world. Raised in seclusion under the care of the Reverend Villars, Evelina Anville must contend with an unfamiliar social landscape of assemblies, fashionable resorts, intrusive relations and potential suitors. Her letters to her guardian record both her growing independence and the comic discomforts of a society governed by rank, reputation and rigid expectations of feminine conduct.
Burney combines social observation, romantic uncertainty and sparkling comedy to expose the contradictions of eighteenth-century manners. Evelina’s intelligence and sincerity are repeatedly tested by the behaviour of those who presume to instruct, protect or possess her, while the epistolary form preserves the immediacy of her changing impressions. An important precursor to the novels of Jane Austen, Evelina helped establish the social comedy of manners as a vehicle for examining women’s place in public life and remains a foundational work of the English novel.
From the book
“I have been so much accustomed to depend upon your goodness, that I know not how to act without your advice.”
— Frances Burney, Evelina
On Evelina
“A young woman who is navigating her entry into society and the complexities of life, love, and social norms.”
— Project Gutenberg, book description