ISBN Evelina ( Or the History of A Young Lady's Entrance into the World ) 512 pages English

Lord Orville did me the honour to hand me to the coach talking all the way of the honour I had done him! O these fashionable people!' Frances Burney's first and most enduringly popular novel is a vivid satirical and seductive account of the pleasures and dangers of fashionable life in late eighteenth-century London. As she describes her heroine's entry into society womanhood and inevitably love Burney exposes the vulnerability of female innocence in an image-conscious and often cruel world where social snobbery and sexual aggression are played out in the public arenas of pleasure-gardens theatre visits and balls. But Evelina's innocence also makes her a shrewd commentator on the excesses and absurdities of manners and social ambitions - as well as attracting the attention of the eminently eligible Lord Orville. Evelina comic and shrewd is at once a guide to fashionable London a satirical attack on the new consumerism an investigation of women's position in the late eighteenth century and a love story. The new introduction and full notes to this edition help make this richness all the more readily available to a modern reader. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study and much more.