Everyone knows of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters, of Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Gaskill, and George Eliot. Many also know of Maria Edgeworth and Ann Radcliffe. And rightly so.
Their creative imaginations have helped shape literary landscapes and beyond: from political debates and social reforms to our ideas about love and friendship and death. Scores of readers have profited from their insightful minds, and scores of readers will continue to do so. Good literature never stops giving.
It’s a boon to all readers, then, that there’s still plenty of literary nourishment to be reaped from the same eras that produced the aforementioned superstars.
Indeed, the 18th and 19th centuries were replete with talented female writers. Not all of them, of course, produced a work like Jane Eyre, a novel which has acquired a level of permanency and popularity that few novels ever do. Nonetheless, the works of these lesser known bevy of female writers from these two centuries deserve our attention.
Fortunately, the Chawton House Library Series has made this much easier to do.
Mining a rich cornucopia of material, they’ve made available works in three areas: travel writing, memoirs, and novels. All of them by female writers, and all from the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Some of these works you can find online, assuming you’re willing to do some scouring in the first place (and don’t mind reading on a screen). But many of the works you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere, let alone in handsome hardback editions like the ones offered by Chawton House and Pickering & Chatto.
The novels in the series are diverse in their plots and genres. There’s everything from epistolary novels centered on issues related to marriage, to lively episodic stories that put a magnifying glass to the development of human passions over time. There’s something to pique the interests of everyone.
Given that novels can yield such pleasurable experiences, a dive into some of these works might be the best way to begin exploring the talented, but frequently overlooked, writers that the Chawton House Library Series has put forth.
A few of these excellent novels are introduced below.
The Rash Resolve by Eliza Haywood
If you’ve ever strolled through a library or bookstore and seen a sizable part of a shelf taken up by a single author, you have a sense of the voluminous output of Eliza Haywood’s writing career.
Born near the end of the 17th century, Haywood established herself as a versatile author who had something to say about nearly everything. Hers was a highly influential voice during her lifetime, and that influence traveled far beyond her death. Her role in the development of the English novel is significant.
One of the many fascinating things about Haywood is her unceasing ventures into a variety of genres. While some writers excel at novels or plays, and others at crafting trenchant essays and social commentary, Haywood was adept in nearly all forms, including the ones just mentioned. Additionally, political tracts and translations also came from her perpetually moving pen. And to top it all off, she also acted on the stage.
This from a woman living in the first half of the 18th century. Had she been born in the century of today, she’d probably be just as prolific—maybe even more so— and establish herself as one of those rare artistic talents who can successfully crossover into all sorts of creative fields.
An early novella from this very talented mind is The Rash Resolve, published in 1724. Though only in her late 20s when she wrote it (Haywood’s birthdate is uncertain), she already had a few works behind her.
The protagonist of this 1724 story is Emanuella—the beautiful, young, affluent daughter of Don Alvarez, governor of Puerto Rico. Though her mother passed away when she was young, Emanuella entertains comparatively few worries. Life is good.
For a time being, at least. Unlike Pip in Great Expectations, the trajectory of Emanuella’s life is not a positive one. When a greedy guardian becomes dead bent on stealing Emanuella’s inheritance, her life is fundamentally changed.
Needless to say, Emanuella’s cozy existence becomes littered with all sorts of chaos, some of which leads to her literal confinement. Even when she’s able to escape from Puerto Rico and reach her favored destination of Spain, powerful limitations remain in her life. Is there anywhere—anywhere at all—where she can find peace?
For a number of female protagonists in the literature of this period—including in at least one of Haywood’s novels—a convent is an option for a safe haven. Poverty can be one reason, so can a sincere religious conviction. Others enter the secluded dwelling in order to find a place of reprieve (temporary or permanent) from the outside world.
Might this be a place for Emanuella? If so, will the ferment of her inner-life actually find a resting place, or will the worries and weight of her troubles remain with her?
The Rash Resolve, as one might guess, contains its share of impulsivity in the lives of the characters. Not surprisingly, the role of passion is also front and center in this novel. And passion, as we all know, can be the antecedent to powerful acts, one that carry with them life-changing consequences.
Malvina by Sophie Cottin
If you’re feeling dreary and downcast, Cottin’s sober drama probably isn’t the novel to pick up. Happy moments are few and far between. Nonetheless, it’s a pensive story, one that requires a continual reassessment of its characters as you forecast how the life of its protagonist will evolve.
It doesn’t begin on a promising note. On a frigid and snowy day, Malvina de Sorcy weeps at the grave of her closest friend. The latter has left behind a small child, along with a cold and indifferent husband. Steadfast friend that she is, Malvina takes it upon herself to take full care of the child (a proposition that is met with little resistance from the careless father). So Malvina, coming out of her own loveless marriage—and having virtually no resources—decides to take the child and live with a wealthy, older cousin in Scotland, whom she has never met.
That cousin, Mrs. Burton, resides in a lavish castle, where she doles out acts of kindness and charity to those less fortunate. Actually, not so much: her ostensible acts of kindness are propelled by nothing more than her superficialities and ulterior motives. This becomes clear to the recently arrived Malvina, though she at first withholds judgment.
It also becomes clear that Mrs. Burton has her thumb on just about everything and everyone. In various ways, she exerts control over Mr. Prior (chaplain of the castle), Mrs. Melmour and her young daughter (friends of Mrs. Burton’s who are essentially dependent upon her), and her nephew, Sir Edmond (the unmarried and sometimes decadent young man who also possesses an altruistic side).
Before long, Malvina herself becomes ensnared by the machinations of her aunt.
A substantial portion of the plot concerns Edmond’s passions towards Malvina, whose presence at Mrs. Burton’s also stirs the feelings of Mr. Prior. For her own part, however, relationships aren’t on Malvina’s mind; instead, she’s centered her life entirely around the dutiful act of raising her friend’s child.
But can her devotion remain that way? And can her heart remain forever closed to the idea of falling in love?
As Malvina contends with an increasing barrage of complicated emotions, the imperious behavior of Mrs. Burton adds layer upon layer of chaos. The drama builds as a tangled and duplicitous web of relationships between friends and foes spins out of control. Indeed, there’s more than a little vindictiveness that plays out.
There’s just about everything in his novel, in fact, including sword fights, impassioned letter writing, and jarring revelations. Malvina is definitely not light reading. But if you’re willing to buckle yourself in for a wild ride of intense drama, Cottin’s novel can make for a gratifying read.
The History of Ned Evans by Elizabeth Hervey
As is the case with so many novels of the Chawton House Library Series, Hervey’s novel features a youthful protagonist whose developing maturity coincides with the discovery of unknown facts about his family’s past.
In Hervey’s story, that young character is Ned Evans, who is nineteen years old upon the novel’s opening. He lives with his kindly and pious parents in a humble dwelling in Wales. His father, a dedicated parishioner, values his commitment to God and his small congregation far more than his meager income. Young Ned himself is presented as having the same kind of moral fiber, though he’s committed one or two one or two mistakes in his recent past (and which remain unknown to parents).
A tumultuous event on a thunder-filled night sets the narrative in motion. Ned returns home with a horribly shaken up young girl, who’s older guardian has been shot by a highwayman during a robbery. As she recovers at the Evans’ home, her story and identity are gradually revealed.
She’s not from the area, and neither is she from the same lowly sphere of class that the Evans’ inhabit. Far from it.
As Ned becomes increasingly attracted to her—and she to him, though more slowly—the lives of these young people become entwined in a complicated years’ long drama. Ned’s past mistakes come to the surface, as do other revelations.
Interestingly, Hervey’s novel eventually transports its readers across the Atlantic Ocean and into the midst of the Revolutionary War. Though many of the novels in the series have settings outside of Britain, this might be the only one that has a significant portion of its narrative set in America.
Can Ned remain connected to the life that he formed thousands of miles away? Issues of class might also drive a wedge between the life he wants and the life he can have, along with never revealed secrets of his past.
You might feel exhausted after reading Elizabeth Hervey’s lengthy and eventful novel, but not disappointed.
The Romance of Private Life by Sarah Harriet Burney
This volume contains two works, The Hermitage and The Renunciation. The latter is a gripping—though somewhat convoluted—story of identity and family that takes us from England to Italy and back again (with all sorts of twists and turns in between). A notepad and pen might be handy in order to help stay on top of the sometimes overly confusing narrative, but it’s worth reading.
The Hermitage is also an engrossing work. In fact, it might be one the best novels to start with, if you’re looking to sample some of the many delights in the Chawton House Library Series.
Like nearly all works written over a century and a half ago, its language and social conventions can sometimes feel outdated, but the story’s compelling elements of mystery, romance, and drama make for a surprisingly modern whodunit. And a gripping one, at that.
The upright Ella Ormond is at the center of the novel. Her mature and conscientious behavior contrasts sharply with that of her domineering mother, Mrs. Ormond (a largely superficial adult focused on social climbing) and her wayward brother, Frederic (a hedonist through and through). Fortunately, Ella’s married half-sister, Bessy, and her husband, provide some moral backbone to the family’s otherwise less than stellar morals.
The plot of the novel gradually gathers steam when the carefree Frederic returns from a prolonged and laidback trip to Europe. Upon his return, he’s to speak with his uncle—from whom he is in line to receive a lofty inheritance—but the young and flippant Frederick nevertheless takes his sweet time. He’ll speak to his uncle when he gets to it.
After all, ever since his return from the continent, he’s been spending time around Ruth, a young, poor, and gloriously beautiful maiden who lives in the area. Unlike Frederic, Ruth has actual obligations to fulfill, and indeed her life is about as different from Frederic’s as night is from day. Unfortunately, she falls prey to Frederick’s powers of seduction.
Dramatic entanglements ensue—surprise, surprise—and one person is left dead. Who did it, and why? And can the closest people in Ella’s life be counted upon, including one of her dearest childhood friends?
The Hermitage is a suspenseful whodunit. Take away some of the story’s anachronisms, and it’s not much different than an absorbing, well-written mystery novel of today.
Spectatio 