Gosport is an interesting innovation, if you're interested in that kind of thing-he's the intelligent voice of the novel, but he's not particularly involved in anything. But they do get entangled in plot, and that's what Burney gives us: incident after incident, all leading us towards a crisis point, whether local (as when Cecilia finally moves out of her first guardian's house) or more general (as at the end of the novel). The characters are well drawn, and don't 'develop,' because they are people, not characters in a fiction-writing workshop, and people don't develop like that. Burney gives you exactly what you want from a late eighteenth century novel: heart-rending sentiment, burning satire, and intelligent sociology. Now, having said all that, this is fabulous stuff.

This should be read the way you watch a TV series: a few chapters here, a few there, letting the various plots lines wrap themselves up, taking a pause while the next one gets going, all the while keeping in mind that there is an overarching point to the thing, but not expecting that overarching point to be the focus of every chapter, let alone every sentence. Ii) This shouldn't be read the way you'd read a Hemingway novel-sitting down and intensely fretting through the intense pages of intensity. We need to get a couple of things out of the way before I get to the proper review. But she will soon find out that life as an heiress with three guardians is far from simple.Ĭecilia is a rather massive novel and it’s a little more ambiguous than I expected, which might make it a little less accessible than Evelina, but it is an excellent novel: insightful characterizations and satire, as well as criticism of the life of privileged society.

Monckton, Cecilia makes her way to London to stay with the Harrels. Saying good-bye to her fatherly friend Mr. Delvile comes from a very old family and is supposed to give Cecilia access to important connections. Briggs is a self-made man supposed to take care of Cecilia’s money. Harrel, who married Cecilia’s childhood friend Priscilla, is supposed to be her social net. The Dean chose her guardians with different things in mind: Mr. This inheritance hinges on the fact that Cecilia marry a man who will take her name instead of the other way round. But he died shortly before she came of age, he died, leaving her in the care of three guardians until she could take care of her own affairs and notably, quite a substantial inheritance. Cecilia grew up rather sheltered with her uncle, the Dean.

Cecilia burney novel