Ethelinde, or, The Recluse of the Lake

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Charlotte Smith’s classic second novel, an influence on Jane Austen and Ann Radcliffe, now available in a paperback scholarly edition for the first time

When Charlotte Smith’s (1749-1806) profligate and abusive husband was imprisoned for debt in 1783, she was forced to turn to writing to support herself and ten children. Over the course of a decade, she would go on to publish ten highly accomplished novels that earned her praise from contemporary critics and which are now being rediscovered by scholars as important contributions to 18th-century literature and key influences on writers like Austen and Radcliffe.

Ethelinde, or The Recluse of the Lake (1789) is the story of the trials and tribulations of the lovely orphan Ethelinde, beloved both by the brave but impecunious Montgomery and by her guardian, the unhappily married Sir Edward Newenden, and pursued by the villainous schemes of the rake Davenant. Can the virtuous heroine overcome the obstacles that separate her and Montgomery, or will she fall victim to the snares laid for her by her enemies?

This first-ever paperback reissue of Smith’s novel includes the unabridged text of the five-volume second edition of 1790 as well as a new introduction and notes by Ellen Moody.