Charlotte Smith

Charlotte Smith's life as a legal prostitute turned influential poet and novelist unfolds in this engaging biography. Married off at fifteen, she left her irresponsible husband to raise her children while making a significant impact on literary figures like Wordsworth and Austen. Known for her wit and radical views, she advocated for social reform during the upheaval of the French Revolution. Loraine Fletcher's scholarly yet accessible account captures Smith's tumultuous life and the self-dramatization present in her fiction, appealing to both newcomers and specialists alike.