The language and style put up some significant barriers for a modern reader. This is obviously not the book's fault, because hey, it was published in 1793!

The plot itself, though a bit elementary, was satisfying enough, but it didn't make a strong impact because of the interludes of moralizing and poetry.

The plot: Young woman named Maria is reunited with her mother after a long absence. They go off to live in a small house in the country, where the mother is determined to form her daughter's character in an upright and virtuous mold. They read a lot of history about Rome and stuff, and this somehow helps Maria become a more stable person. Her best friend is flighty, frivolous, and petted, a strong foil to Maria, who can't discern yet that these qualities are problematic. A black-hearted rake courts Maria with dastardly intentions. A good-hearted fellow, Edmund Herbert, warns her. She thinks he is just interfering to make trouble, but he is, of course, falling in love with her. In a series of events with relatively little dramatic tension, all is resolved.

What's interesting is to chart this moment in the development of the novel. You can tell that novels get a lot of grief at this moment in history, because the author is at great pains to explain that she doesn't want to present a thrilling, fantastical tale, but to show real life and wholesome values as a healthful lesson to her young audience. It's all very, "I'll show you what's going on here, but then I'll also stop and tell you what I'm showing you just to drive the point home, because heaven forbid you think this is just a story to read for fun."

It's a book that is clearly in favor of education for women, fitting them to make their own rational decisions. It also has interesting reflections on courtship and marriage. Maria's mother tells her, "I am far from thinking that female happiness is of necessity connected with marriage," but then she acknowledges that most women, given the chance, do prefer to get married. Not all married women are happy, she says, and not all single women are sad--and also vice versa. It’s a smart way of discussing Maria’s expectations. The part that I respected most, though, was where she gives Maria her own impression of Edmund. He's pretty awesome, she says, and his good qualities are super important. But she doesn't fault Maria for also consulting her own taste. It's the 1790s version of, "Is this the face you want to see at the breakfast table every morning for the rest of your lives?" Since he's a good guy in all the essentials, there's no right answer to this except her own. That's a huge amount of agency for a young woman in this setting.

The phrasing, of course, has to be read with care. As with a lot of books more than about 200 years old, it teeters on the brink of feeling like a different language in some places. There's a satisfaction in deciphering what it all means, but there are also passages where my brain just grimaces and says, "Nothing concrete to be gained here, next page, please."

The quote that stuck in my mind the most was not one central to the plot, but it is this: "Marriage proved, as it frequently does, the grave of female friendship." I gasped. Not because I agree or disagree (I mean, it's sometimes true, though it doesn't have to be), but mostly because it felt so self-aware about how people change. There's a lot of freedom today to talk about our emotional lives and the behind-the-scenes realities of various relationships. But evidently people (should I say women specifically?) have always been interested in doing such analysis. It ties us to these humans from hundreds of years ago, and that is cool.

Curious about this book? It's not very available, but you can find it as a scanned book on Google. Beware: the letter "s" is frequently replaced by "f" in the curious way of publications from ye-olden-times. It's a bit tricky when you're not used to it. And it makes you giggle when it says that someone "ftarted."

I read this as a sort of lead-up to Georgianuary. It is my privilege to write the sole review for it (so far) on Goodreads. I suspect Georgianuary is going to resurrect a lot of books currently lost to the mist of time. It will be interesting. ( )