This is a highly amusing and clever book, a clear jab at the inadequacy of female education in the authors time but it is hard going in places. ( )

The heroine of this novel is Arabella, whose early life has been spent in the secluded home of her father, her mother having died giving birth to Arabella. Much of her time has been spent reading 'romances' - which, in an 18th century context, refers to historically-based stories of tragic heroines. 'By them she was taught to believe, that Love was the ruling Principle of the World; that every other Passion was subordinate to this.'

She takes the books she reads far too seriously and, when she finally comes out in society, she uses the romantic texts as a model for her own behaviour. Comically, she also interprets the actions of other people in the context of the melodramatic, ludicrous romances. For instance, when she learns about Miss Groves, newly arrived in the area, she is not shocked when she learns that Miss Groves has borne two illegitimate children. Instead, she compares Miss Groves to Cleopatra. The effect is that Arabella can seem quite jaw-droppingly modern. Unfortunately other people are merely baffled by her unconventional manner of looking at things. Far from being grateful for her understanding, Miss Groves finds Arabella to be 'the most ridiculous Creature in the World [who was] so totally ignorant of good Breeding, that it was impossible to converse with her.'

Arabella's father is determined that his daughter should marry his nephew, Glanville. At first, Glanville is put off by her manner, until he understands that Arabella's rules of courtship are rather different from those prevailing in current society. He quickly learns to humour her, and even refuses her father's invitation to burn all her books.

Glanville, even though he falls in love with Arabella, is embarrassed and infuriated by the girl's foibles. Arabella believes every strange man she sees is about to ravish her - 'since nothing was more common to Heroines than such Adventures'. At times, comical though her fancies are, the reader might almost believe that Arabella is actually a bit unhinged, and that her belief in an alternative fantasy world borders on the delusional. When she briefly goes missing, she expects Glanville to die 'with Grief at the News of it'. Naturally, he fails to comply with her wish, and it is hard to imagine how any man will ever live up to her ideal of someone who will perform 'an infinite Number of Services, and secret Sufferings' to prove himself worthy of her.

She is finally disabused of her romantic notions by a Doctor, who explains to her that 'A long Life may be passed without a single Occurrence that can cause much Surprize, or produce any unexpected Consequence of great Importance'. In other words, the 'adventures' that are common in fiction are much rarer in real life. Once she's seen the error of her ways, she is quite happy to agree to marry Glanville. Although the ending of the novel has been much criticised, marriage was pretty much the only 'happy ending' available to fictional heroines at that time. Glanville, too, seems to be a sensible soul willing to put up with a great deal from Arabella, and it's not hard to imagine that she will be the dominant partner in the marriage. [July 2006] ( )

Arabella is the daughter of a reclusive nobleman who, cut off from the outside world, learns about society and social expectations by reading the romances and romantic histories in her deceased mother's library. Comic antics ensue when she is courted by a young man, who finds himself subjected to a series of baffling rules that seem perfectly natural to Arabella, but have the unfortunate side effect of making her look like a complete lunatic in the context of "real" society.

This is an extremely funny and accessible 18th-century novel that had me laughing out loud at several points. Inevitably, the joke of Arabella's skewed perceptions gets a little old over the course of a novel more than 300 pages long, but not enough to detract much from the enjoyment it provides. ( )