I've given this book too many reads to count, since it's central in my dissertation. If you like eighteenth-century literature, this is a great text about a "woman in distress."

i read this after hearing prof. john bender digress briefly about it. he was right that it was emotionally tortured -- but so compelling, like an opera in letters. her exquisitely sensitive manners just make it that much more torture, in a way that reminds me oddly of the remains of the day.

Sidney Bidulph Arnold gets increasingly more annoying throughout the book by continuing to do what's "proper" without enough information, therefore inadvertently screwing everyone over. She ends up dying unhappy, but it's cool because her reward will be in heaven.

An unexpectedly gripping book, which reveals the inability of women in the 18th century to guarantee their own financial and emotional security despite their attempts to read male (and female character), practice virtue, and exercise judicious caution. Several times I was astonished by the plot t...more

A story of troubled love from the 18th century that shows us a lot of things about the customs of the time. The book's heroine knows love at an early age but quickly realizes that her beloved is not exactly the knight with the shining armor. This perception then follows her as she understands tha...more

Enjoyable 18th century melodrama about the romantic and economic trials of a "good" woman in a wicked, chaotic world; although obviously, best suited for those who enjoy old-fashioned prose and pacing.