Burney's last novel, The Romance of Private Life (1839) contains two striking tales. Based on her travels on the continent, The Renunciation presents a colourful picture of life abroad. An English girl travels to Italy in search of kin and supports herself as an artist, offering an early feminist heroine. The Hermitage is a gripping psychological thriller involving a ruined country maiden and an unsolved murder. With shades of the Gothic, it offers a case-study of the after-effects of trauma, anticipating the genre of the detective novel and challenging prevailing critical assumptions of the patriarchal origins of the genre.
- ISBN10 661315752X
- ISBN13 9786613157522
- Publish Date 1 June 2008 (first published 1 January 2008)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 29 December 2011
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Pickering & Chatto Publishers
- Format eBook
- Pages 441
- Language English