The novel's portrayal of historical and cultural tensions in Ireland has made it a foundational work in Anglo-Irish literature.

The lively comedy of this novel in which a young woman comes of age amid the distractions and temptations of London high society belies the challenges it poses to the conventions of courtship, the dependence of women, and the limitations of ...

The second series of 'Tales of Fashionable Life' (1812) did so well that she was now the most commercially successful novelist of her age.

This volume also includes Ennui, the entertaining 'confessions' of the Earl of Glenthorn, a bored, spoiled aristocrat.

Just before coming of age, Lord Colambre, the sensitive hero of the novel, finds that his mother Lady Clonbrony's attempts to buy her way into the high society of London are only ridiculed, while his father, Lord Clonbrony, is in serious ...

His ensuing adventures take him from rural Ireland to fashionable Parisian society, where his good intentions in the areas of books, love and money are thoroughly tested." --Book jacket of 2000 ed.

This volume also includes Ennui, the entertaining confessions of the Earl of Glenthorn, a bored aristocrat. Both novels offer a darkly comic and satirical expose of the Irish class system.

Edgeworth has presented a life-like character, Harry Ormond, who is brought-up by lenience and neglect. The motif of the novel is the importance of literacy and upbringing.