With many people in social isolation, reading material becomes indispensable. But what to do if you have ran out of all of your Jane Austen, including letters and Juvenilia? Where to turn next? Here, I will suggest six (plus one) novels to read if you need a Jane Austen fix.
1. Belinda by Maria Edgeworth
Belinda is a young lady who is introduced to the world of wealth and dissipation by the charming Lady Delacour. The lady in question uses her wit and vivacity to conceal her fears of a terminal illness. There are misunderstandings, petty jealousies and a falling out. Belinda is courted by several young men and there is much speculation over whom she would choose.
This is a charming story. While Belinda is a bit colorless, Lady Delacour is a delight. And this is one the few novels of its kind where one of the principal characters is a person of color. I demand they make it into a mini-series!
2. Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress by Frances Burney
Poor Cecilia has the double inconvenience of being an heiress and having too many guardians. She has to navigate London society and meet with every kind of vice and folly that late 18th century England had to offer. The novel is more of a character study, and you will delight in the absurdity of some of the people our Cecilia has to meet along the way.
Unlike the sedated novels of Austen, this one is a lot more over the top. The villains are a bit more dastardly and the heroine is a little more precious. But it's a fun ride.
3. Camilla, or A Picture of Youth by Frances Burney
This novel is about the Tyrold family and their various relatives and dependents. Camilla is the middle of three sisters. Her eldest sister Lavinia is sweet and gentle, and her youngest sister Eugenia is very intelligent, but due to a childhood illness and an accident is considered plain. They also have a mischievous brother, a rich uncle, a silly cousin, and a wealthy ward. Camilla is meant to be an heiress, but then she is disinherited. Love matches are made and broken, abductions and forced marriages occur, people lose their wealth and end up in debtors' prison. But in the end everyone gets what they deserve.
This novel can perhaps be best described as a book Jane Austen would have written if she had never outgrown her Juvenilia. It is exceedingly fun, but the plot is not very plausible.
4. The Italian, or the Confessional of the Black Penitents by Ann Radcliffe
The noble Vincentio di Vivaldi loves the virtuous Ellena di Rosalba. But she is poor and obscure, and his mother, jealous of their family's position enlists the help of her confessor Schedoni to stop the marriage. The Inquisition gets involved and things get pretty dark. But not too dark. In the end the villains are punished and love triumphs.
5. Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Frances Burney
Evelina is a girl of uncertain parentage (her father had never recognized her) who would have lived out her life in peaceful retirement if not for her grandmother. Mme Duval returns to England and claims her granddaughter. She intends to make her more worldly.
Evelina is pursued by the eligible Lord Orville and the unprincipled Sir Clement Willoughby (hey, I've seen that name somewhere before!). She makes many social blunders, is accused of being an impostor, but in the end is reunited with her father and finds happiness.
6. The Female Quixote; or, The Adventures of Arabella by Charlotte Lennox
If Northanger Abbey pokes gentle fun at Gothic novels and those who love them, The Female Quixote does the same for French romance novels. Arabella is wealthy, noble, and intelligent. But she thinks that everything she reads in romance novels to be true. (I feel you, Arabella!) She constantly makes social blunders (but is generally completely oblivious to them) and mistakes ordinary situations for beginnings of adventures.
The novel is funny and entertaining, and never turns into an outright farce. You laugh at Arabella's silliness, but can't help but admire her absolute faith in her own vision of the world.
If you're feeling adventures and a little naughty, this is a novel for you. A Gothic romance that feels like an 18th century draft for a Game of Thrones book. The monk Ambrosio is wise and virtuous, but he is prideful, too. He is seduced and then falls into one sin after another. There are imprisoned nuns, specters, magic potions and incest.
It may come off as a little hokey to a modern reader, but the story has enough twists and turns to be very engaging.
Have you read any of these novels? Which one is your favorite?
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