Frances (Fanny) Burney, the most celebrated female novelist of the 18th century, is also famous for her diaries, which she kept from a very early age. EVELINA, her first published work, was written in secret, over a nine-year period, in stolen moments or long after the rest of her family had gone to bed. When she finally finished EVELINA, in 1778, she had it published anonymously. Fanny Burney's brother, Charles Jr., took it to a bookseller, who published it thinking it was the work of a "Mr. Gr more... 

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