Popular Fiction by Women, 1660-1730

This is a collection of novels by women writers in the period 1660-1730. Work by the major writers of the period is included - Aphra Behn, Mary de la Riviere Manley, Jane Barker, Eliza Haywood, Mary Davys, and Elizabeth Singer Rower. In a variety of styles, these novels provide a sampling of the kinds of stories that are still read today. These include romance, hardship overcome, seduction, rape, kidnapping, murder, political intrigue, and comic revenge. Between them, they help to fill out the early history of the English novel - as these women joined Daniel Defoe in being the most popular and successful novelists before Samuel Richardson.