by Frances Burney (Author), Peter Sabor (Editor), Margaret Anne Doody (Editor)

Cecilia is an heiress, but she can only keep her fortune if her husband will consent to take her surname. Fanny Burney's unusual love story and deft social satire was much admired on its first publication in 1782 for its subtle interweaving of comedy, humanity and social analysis.

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Back Jacket

This novel is an unusual and disturbing love-story. In playing on the issue of the heroine's name, the novel illustrates the high cost of a patriarchal system. Burney exhibits her powers as a comic writer and a satirist in depicting Cecilia's dismaying entry into the gilded fashionable world. This edition presents 'Cecilia' as it first appeared in 1782, indicating changes Burney made to later editions.