Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) is one of the most important women writers between Aphra Behn and Jane Austen, and one of her period's most provocative and entertaining writers of either sex. The narratives in this volume, with the exception of one juvenile piece, have never been printed before. They show the author experimenting with the genres of fiction and autobiography, more influenced by French models than by English, but always working experimentally against the grain of her various traditions. Besides page-turning narrative, these works offer the rare opportunity of a completely fresh take on literary movements, cross-cultural relations, gender ideologies, and other literary debates of the early eighteenth century. Our existing picture of what was once possible in literature and what was possible for women at this time cannot remain unchanged once these writings appear.

Mary Wortley Montagu's profile page

Isobel Grundy's profile page

Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

'this is a highly entertaining and readable collection which also shows the development of eighteenth-century literature' The Fawcett Library Newsletter, No. 27, June 1996

'Isobel Grundy's scholarship is always impressive and illuminating' Dr. Eithne Henson, The New Rambler, 1995/6 (Vol. XI)

'this collection makes fascinating reading for the various and complex dialogues it establishes with Lady Mary's other writings, with those of her English contemporaries, and with a broader European literary tradition. Grundy's annotations are judiciously adapted to the differing positions of the texts ... This volume is certain to be of value to scholars of Lady Mary, of eighteenth-century women writers, and of English and French literature. Many undergraduate students are fascinated by Lady Mary; these narratives could only enhance and justify that fascination.' Betty Schellenberg, Simon Fraser University, Eighteenth-Century Fiction 9:3

'Elaborately and carefully edited ... This looks like a scholarly compromise, but the quality of the translations is excellent; fluent and colloquial, they shadow eighteenth-century cadences and turns of phrase without ever lapsing into the self-advertisement of pastiche.' Times Literary Supplement

These impeccably edited fragments will provide additional bearings for anyone interested in the narrative foundations of either the romance or the realistic novel. ... The editor continually and helpfully points out Montagu's relations to writers from both traditions. ... These manuscripts will also be useful to anyone interested in the process of literary composition. ... The most obvious readership for this collection will be those interested in early women's writing,/The International Fiction Review 25 (1998)