Helen

by Maria Edgeworth, John Mullan (Introduction)

Overview

She was the bestselling author of Regency England. Admired by Jane Austen whose fame she eclipsed and dubbed 'Our Great Maria' by Sir Walter Scott. John Ruskin declared her work, 'The most re-readable in existence'. Isn't it time we started reading Maria Edgeworth?Written in 1834, Helen was the last and most psychologically powerful of Edgeworth's novels.Newly orphaned Helen Stanley is urged to share the home of her childhood friend Lady Cecilia. This charming socialite, however, is withholding secrets and soon Helen is drawn into a web of 'white lies' and evasions that threaten not only her hopes for marriage but her very place in society.A fascinating panorama of Britain's political and intellectual elite in the early 1800s and a gripping romantic drama. Helen was the inspiration for Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters.This edition is introduced by John Mullan, Professor of English at UCL. John Mullan hosts the Guardian Book Club, and contributes regularly to Newsnight Review, LRB and New Statesman.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847657305
Publisher:	Sort Of Books
Publication date:	08/18/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	330
File size:	656 KB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Maria Edgeworth (1768 - 1849) was a prolific Anglo-Irish writer of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe. She held advanced views, for a woman of her time, on estate management, politics and education, and corresponded with some of the leading literary and economic writers, including Sir Walter Scott and David Ricardo.