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Imagine coming across Evelina in a London drawing room in 1787.
The novel had appeared nine years earlier without its author’s name. Frances “Fanny” Burney had published it secretly, but the book itself was difficult to keep secret. Four editions appeared in its first year.
Its young heroine, Evelina Anville, is finding her way into society—through balls and visits, awkward relations, unwanted attention, courtship, and the sometimes difficult business of deciding whom to trust.
There is a reason Evelina may feel familiar to an Austen reader. Jane Austen knew and admired Burney’s novels. Burney’s next major novel, Cecilia, even contains two words that would later become rather famous:
“pride and prejudice.”
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