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Clarissa

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First published: 1748
Pages: 2,488

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About this book

Samuel Richardson's tragic masterpiece unfolds entirely through letters, and its heroine is one of the great figures of English fiction. Clarissa Harlowe is a young woman of principle whose grasping family tries to force her into marriage with a man she despises, all to advance the Harlowe fortunes. Desperate, she puts her trust in Robert Lovelace, a charming and utterly ruthless libertine who spirits her away and then destroys her. What follows is a long, harrowing account of virtue under siege, told in the competing voices of victim and predator. Running to nearly a million words, it ranks among the longest novels in the language, and few books probe the psychology of cruelty and integrity so deeply. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.

About the author

Samuel Richardson

Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) was an English printer who came to fiction late, publishing his first novel at fifty. His epistolary works Pamela, Clarissa, and Sir Charles Grandison shaped the early English novel and made him one of the most influential writers of the eighteenth century.

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