Maria Edgeworth

Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1768 – 22 May 1849) was a prolific Irish writer of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe. She held advanced views, for a woman of her time, on estate management, politics and education, and corresponded with some of the leading literary and economic writers, including Sir Walter Scott and David Ricardo. Maria Edgeworth was born at Black Bourton, Oxfordshire. She was the third child of Richard Lovell Edgeworth (who eventually fathered 22 children by 4 wives) and Anna Maria Edgeworth (née Elers), thus an aunt of Francis Ysidro Edgeworth. She spent her early years with her mother's...