Ladies of the Regency this time Women of letters

Each are beloved by me and I hope you'll be inspired to take a closer look at their writings.

Mrs. Maria Edgeworth was a good Irish novelist whose writing made Sir Walter Scott wondered if similar stories could be written of Scotland. This says quite a bit of her talent. Oh, Jane Austen was also a fan of her work and because of her novel 'Ormond' I have named all my novels thus far after in honour of the male-lead.

Susan Edmonstone Ferrier a Scottish novelist who was encouraged by Walter Scott. Proving once more that serendipity may yet have a role in all our lives, if not as much as real talent and Susan had scores of that. Her novel 'Marriage' is a satirical, racy and humorous tale that exhibits her keen sense of the ludicrous while highlighting the madness that was regency England.

Lady Sydney Morgan a woman as Irish as Mrs. Edgeworth, though considerably livelier she was not as based in her work but she did have a degree of success as a writer. I highly recommend Lady Morgan’s 'O'Briens and the O'Flaherties' for it’s romantic yet sensible story.

Fanny D’Arblay Burney was part of Prinny’s entourage with a large body of work and a degree of critical success. Oh, and fair bit of scandal was associated with her name because of her impoverished French husband. The title of Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' was taken from a sentence in Madame D’Arblay novel 'Cecilia'. For me the most compelling thing written by Fanny will always be the letter she wrote to her sister Esther tell of the mastectomy she under went while living in France. It remains until today one of the most gripping and earliest accounts of a mastectomy.

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley was by far the most scandalous of the ladies of letters, said to be the cause of her husband's first wife Harriet's suicide though the truth is that Harriet was pregnant by a man who was not her husband and could not take the disgrace. Though her husband's elopement with Mary while he was still married to her could not have helped it was also rumoured that Mary and Percy did invite her to come live with them in a sort of ‘ménage à trois’ someplace on the Continent. All that aside she was a brilliant writer. Everyone knows her 'Frankenstein' but I highly recommend her tragically romantic 'Mathilda'.

Jane Austen what else can be said of Miss Austen besides without her there would not be a market in which for me to make an attempt and for that she as my eternal gratitude.

All my very best to you all,

Simone