BOOK FRIENDS

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1935, Page 2 (Supplement)

BOOK FRIENDS

FANNY BURNEY.

Ojic of tliu most delightful books in English literature, aud one that every girl should have on her shelf, is "Evelina," a happy story of a portion of the authoress, Fanny Buraey's, own life. Fanny Burney was born on .Tune 13, 1752, at Lynn Regis, in Norfolk. Dr. Buruey, her father, was well known as a teacher and writer of music, and although Fanny seemed shy and backward as a child, at eighteen she proved a good and competent secretary to her father. When Fanny was 20. "Evelina" appeared, after much thought and careful writing. This book, a witty and amusing study of social life in London and Bath at the end of the eighteenth century, was instantly famous, and secured Fanny a post in the household of Queen Charlotte. It was here that she met General D'Arblay, a French refugee, and later married him. The story of "Evelina" was greatly admired by such critics as Dr. Johnson, Burke, and Sheridan. Owing to the influence of Dr. Johnson, however, Fanny Burney's following two books, "Camellia" and "Cecilia," written after the type of "Evelina," were not nearly so enjoyable or successful. "The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay"' was.! however. just . a continuation of '•Evelina,'" written in the same delightful manner, and just as interesting and amusing to read. Fanny Burney was the first notable English woman novelist, and her book j is still read, admired and chuckled over to-day, nearly a hundred years after the author's death in 1840.