Frances Burney 
Camilla 

Frances Burney (1752-1840) was an English diarist, playwright and novelist. She was self-educated and began writing from what she called her ‘scribblings’ at the young age of ten. In total, she wrote eight plays, four novels, one biography and twenty volumes of letters and journals. She is recognized as a literary forerunner to prominent authors who came after her including William Makepeace Thackeray and Jane Austen. The foundation on which Burney’s popularity sprang rests with the writer’s ability to fully develop the effects of female intellect within a society dominated by men. She persuades her audience that coexistence between the sexes was far more favorable than the power of one over the other. ‘Camilla’, an enormously popular 18th century novel, has hints of the advancing spirit of romanticism. ‘Camilla’ deals with the marital concerns of a group of young people: Camilla Tyrold and her sisters and in particular, with the love affair between Camilla and her eligible suitor, Edgar Mandlebert. They encounter many hardships caused by misunderstandings and mistakes on the path to true love.