An epistolary novel of manners and sentiment. The heroine, Agnes, embodies every perfection, but suffers nonetheless when she unknowingly marries her half brother. He commits suicide rather than live with the incestuous passion, and Agnes, mad with grief, dies a raving maniac (having leapt over the ha-ha). The prevailing message of the novel, indeed, is that the truly virtuous, like Agnes, are not meant for this world, and can attain their just rewards only in the afterlife.

A tale of tragic love, spanning the distance between England and Florence in Italy, the homes of Lord Drelincourt and of the Marchese di Rodalvi and his family respectively.

'An entertaining, effective heroine's progress from foundling babyhood, via reunion with her mother (who had nurtured an unworthy changeling), to "that real happiness so seldom experienced by humanity" - though the good are sure of it hereafter' (Blain, p.879).

'Monmouth, 1790, based on Restoration history, is perhaps her best work' (Blain, p.695).

A novel featuring an unexpectedly awkward and plain heroine. Rachel triumphs over her silly but beautiful cousin Sophia to gain the affections of the hero, Mr. Tompkins. Interestingly, the novel ends before hero and heroine declare their undying devotion. We are told: 'time alone can discover in whose possession he left his heart; but it is expected his next visit to E------ will ascertain the fact'.

A brilliantly amusing burlesque noir, lampooning the absurdities and affectations of the contemporary novel. Having read too many romances, the heroine, Margaret, who prefers to be known as 'Magritta', is like Don Quixote in seeing romance and sensation in the most everyday situations: 'Margaret was sure her uncle's dwelling house had been a formidable castle, and that it was also haunted.' Of greatest interest, perhaps, is the thirty-two page prefatory 'Literary retrospection', which compares the 'good old romances of our ancestors, and those of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries', including discussion of such writers as T.J. Horsley Curteis ('intolerably dull and tiresome'); the 'horrid' novelist, Francis Lathom, whose productions 'tell sad tales of this gentleman's abilities'; Gregory Lewis; Charlotte Dacre ('absurb trash'); and Walter Scott, before he published novels. But the greatest ridicule is reserved for Joshua Pickersgill, who, mercifully, wrote only one novel, The Three Brothers, 1803.

(With acknowledgements to Brick Row Bookshop catalogue.)

The heroine rejects suitor after suitor, as she waits for her accepted lover, Charles Palmer, to return from India with a suitable fortune. Persecuted by family and friends, abducted and held captive by one over-zealous lover, Maria exhibits strength of mind and perfect virtue throughout the tale, finally reaping her reward on her lover's triumphant return.

"The Castle of Tynemouth, 1806, set in the fifteenth century, includes the narrow escape of a young woman who detests witchcraft from being burnt for it." (TFC, p497).

Sarah Wilkinson was a prolific writer of gothic novellas, but she attempted few full-length novels.

'The Corinna of England has been variously and inconclusively attributed to Mrs. E. G. Bayfield, J. H. James and Mrs. E. M. Foster.'

The attribution to Mrs Martin comes from a Minerva Library catalogue of 1814 (Blakey, p.198). A clever novel concerning the efforts of Sir Philip Desomeaux's quest for a wife. Sir Philip takes an extraordinarily practical approach to his search. The novel opens with an advertisement that he has placed in the newspaper, stating simply: 'A man wants a wife.' His practicality quickly gives way to romantic passion, however, upon his meeting with his 'Enchantress' - Miss Josepha Milward.

An endless tale of shipwrecks, priate attacks, and virtuous European women being sold as slaves to heathens. Harriot Montague's unsurpassed beauty and virtue win her the love of Leander. The serpentine plot leads them through many improbable adventures before finally depositing them in each other's waiting arms.

An interesting Minerva Press novelist. Jane Austen knew her work, and laughed at it. After reading 'a most tiresome novel in eight volumes by a Mrs. Hunter, containing a story within a story, and in which the heroine was always in floods of tears,' Austen wrote a mock thank-you letter to her niece, Anna, in the style of Mrs Hunter. But. Hunter has since found more appreciative critics, and she is now considered noteworthy for her 'ingenious role-playing, critical prefaces and for entering as author among her characters' (Blain, p. 553). In the splendid facetious preface to The Unexpected Legacy, the fictitious author, Mrs Sedley, who also plays a leading role in the plot, has to defend novels from an eloquent attack by her male friend.

A revision of Letters Between Emilia and Harriet, 1762. The overwhelming goodness of the heroine, Caroline Herbert, triumphs over fashionable vagaries, and restores the affections of a wandering husband. Some merciful relief from Mrs Herbert\'s severe virtue is to be found in the character of Miss Clara Woodford, a vivacious young lady who delights in exciting admiration, but who herself ends the novel vowing to become a pattern of virtue.