When she was a child - small, timid, myopic - Fanny Burney was
known as 'The Old Lady', and from an early age an assistant to her
father, the great musicologist Dr Charles Burney, she was indeed
old before her time. Though her talent was considerable and
obvious, it was still a great surprise when she confessed to being
the author of the runaway best-seller Evelina, a wildly successful
novel published in 1778, which provoked even the great Dr Johnson
(a family friend) to astonished admiration. She sold it outright
for 20; it made perhaps 50,000 for its publisher. This irritated
but did not dismay her; she went on writing (though never quite so
successfully) and among other things produced the most entertaining
journals of her time, recording the eccentric pleasures of being a
Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Charlotte, and being chased around the
bushes by the temporarily mad King George. This new biography, the
best available, tells her story plainly but with insight, humour
and drama - the description of a mastectomy, performed on her
without an anaesthetic, is not one for the squeamish. A fine life
of one of the earliest notable British woman novelists (an
incidentally a model for Jane Austen). (Kirkus UK)
'Dazzling...full of special delights. Harman excels in the vivid
presentation of scenes, the selection of detail...[a] marvellous
and beautifully written book.' Elspeth Barker, Independent on
Sunday At the age of fifteen, Fanny Burney made a bonfire of all
her works, 'with the sincere intention to extinguish for ever in
their ashes her scribbling propensity'. She was anxious that she
might turn into an author, a fate incompatible - for a woman - with
respectability. Her hope was in vain. Not only was she to write
four novels ('Evelina', 'Cecilia', 'Camilla' and 'The Wanderer'),
all of which are still in print, she also kept a voluminous diary
for the next seventy years and was a prolific letter-writer.
Daughter of the eminent music historian Dr Charles Burney; friend
of Sheridan, Garrick, Burke and Johnson; second keeper of the robes
to George III's Queen Charlotte; wife to a refugee French
aristocrat; detained for ten years in revolutionary France;
horrified witness of the aftermath of Waterloo; victim of a
mastectomy without anaesthetic...Fanny Burney's life was as
eventful as any novel.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
