Fanny Burney's Evelina was written in secret and published anonymously in 1778. The story of a young woman entering a society that is seemingly designed to threaten her success, Evelina is an example of the epistolary genre popular in the 18th Century.
Decent intrigue, but the back and forth got tiresome and Evelina's relations are all equally annoying. When I read the blurb, I assumed that the dangers of society that the innocent Evelina encounters in London would include several vices. However, the mean and repetitive danger is that of sexual threat/rape. Every time Evelina goes to any public place, she loses track of her family due to some unfortunate incident, and she is literally grabbed and moved around by several men. One of the most insistent of them, Clement Willoughby, even stuffs her into his carriage and won't stop grabbing her hand while she screams for help. It is truly quite harrowing to read, especially for the feeling of helplessness that pervades the text - despite her constant protestations, Willoughby keeps bothering her, even in the presence of her friends and family members.
While Evelina's troubles might be realistic, they were horrifying to read due to the lack of agency and resources available to her. She has no other hope but to hang onto her chastity, while clearly others are not all that concerned about hurting her or not. Evelina is well-written, and the epistolary format actually worked well for me, but the content was rather bleak and gave me little joy.
--- Trigger warnings: ongoing rape-threat (unskippable), suicide and suicide ideation, death of parent, unwanted/unrecognized by other parent.
