Belinda

Maria Edgeworth follows a sensible young woman, Belinda Portman, as she enters the glittering and treacherous world of fashionable London under the wing of Lady Delacour. Her hostess is brilliant and sharp-tongued, but beneath the wit lies a wounded, self-destructive woman hiding a secret illness. Belinda must keep her judgment and her heart intact while suitors circle and society watches, chief among them the charming but wavering Clarence Hervey. Published in 1801, the novel blends a courtship plot with a clear-eyed study of reputation, marriage, and the pressures placed on women. Jane Austen praised it by name in Northanger Abbey, and it stands among the finest novels of manners of its generation. Read the complete work in this free PDF and EPUB edition.