Reading "Camilla"

[MsAmerica]

I decided I wanted to read Camilla, by Fanny Burney. As a matter of fact, there was an almost eerie coincidence, because a few hours afterward, I stumbled on a free discarded copy. What are the odds of that?

I'm wading through it, and it's better than Evelina, but still going crazy with a heroine who's such a ninny - and, in fact, the parents who keep funding their profligate young sons are pretty annoying, too. But after 3/4 of the way through (900+ pages), when everyone is mired in financial disaster, I was really struck by the bind of a woman then, who had absolutely no recourse. I mean, she couldn't just decide to go get a job, could not honorably borrow money, nothing.

Anyway, it's making me appreciate Jane Austen all the more.

I gave up on Evelina and haven't read Camilla. Worth a go?

She could

Be a governess ( if educated)
Be a ladies maid
Be a dressmaker/milliner but would prob not earn enough to keep herself and might need to turn yo prostitution
Run a shop, Miss Mattie is only a century later,
Run a dame school or take in babies
Work in the fields
Become an indoor servant
Depend on her family
Be a prostitute
Starve.

Depending on social class and desperation.

If she were in Europe she could be a nun. V convenient dumping place for spare daughters. Even potentially useful dep on your viewpoint.

I really liked, 'Evelina'. Not read, 'Camilla' yet. Should I?

But let's get real, Capewrath. For a nicely brought-up girl, she's not going to work in the fields, be a servant, nor any of that. Most likely, she'd become a kept woman, which involved horrific shame, unlike today. (I love your term "dumping ground for spare daughters.")

I know that the bulk of this forum seems to be asking for and providing recommendations, but I hesitate because I like recommendations to be targeted, not blanket. I happen to like older books, a century or more old, partly because I enjoy the writing, partly because I'm fascinated by the glimpse into the past.

I think it's far better than Evelina (where the heroine is even more of a ninny, for may taste), although Camilla's 900+ pages could easily have been whittled down to 400.

I am reading Evelina and the word ninny is one I haven't heard someone use for years but is absolutely perfect in this instance.

Have you read Susan? Not FB but someone else.

I think ninny is the perfect word for Catherine Morland. Who started off as a perfectly sensible tomboy. Such a disappointment.

Ok, will reconsider Evelina. And might even think about Camilla.

Just about to gorge myself on Mrs Henry Wood. Blessings on project Gutenberg.

OH, and I forgot to mention the profession of companion.

And useful sister.