Evelina by Frances Burney

Evelina is a young woman who has been sheltered from society and societies gathering places by her guardian, Reverend Villars. She comes of a troubled background-- her grandfather was well-known to Reverend Villars, but acted against the advice of this good friend in marrying a tavern girl. The grandfather asks the Reverend to raise Evelina's mother, which he does until he is requested to send her to the grandmother in France. In France, the mother finds herself being pushed into an unpromising marriage, and so chooses to run off and marry another, Sir John Belmont. Once Sir John discovers there is no money, he abandons Evelina's mother, who is pregnant. Evelina's mother dies not long after childbirth, asking the Reverend Villars to raise Evelina.

As a result, Evelina leads a sheltered country life and when she travels to London with some close friends she finds herself stumbling through the new experiences before her, sometimes making great social mistakes. While in London she happens to meet her infamous Grandmother, Madam Duval, who is ill-bred, unmannerly, and any other term you can think of to describe a horrible relation. Seriously, if you thought the relatives in Jane Austen's books are bad, the relatives in this book are far worse. Its hard for me to keep reading as Evelina has to witness and be a part of the blunders of her grandmother, her newly discovered cousins, the husband of her friend, all of which is very cringe-worthy. And unlike, for example, Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Evelina has no spunk or gumption to stand up for herself or speak out against or even think out against how her relations behave. She just lets herself be carried away by their behavior and choices, and so ends up in a number of uncomfortable situations (lying about being engaged to dance with a gentleman to avoid dancing with an unwanted partner, alone in a carriage with an unwanted suitor, nearly assaulted by a group of men, walking with prostitutes, etc.).

There are attempts made to have Evelina recognized by her father, which initially fails, but the reason is really one of the great twists of this novel, as is Evelina discovering she has a brother, falling in love with Lord Osbourne, etc.

Overall, I found it a charming story told through the letters Evelina writes to Reverend Villars, which is somewhat odd in that she discloses nothing, but lays it all out. It covers her entrance into society, trying to manage unwanted relations, and her efforts to be recognized by her biological father. I have actually read this before, and the really memorable parts are the unwanted relations.

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