Samuel Richardson's 1740 English novel follows Pamela Andrews, a young servant who resists her master's advances while maintaining her virtue and principles. Told through letters and journal entries, this pioneering work of fiction explores class, morality, and women's agency in 18th-century society.
I have great trouble, and some comfort, to acquaint you with. The trouble is, that my good lady died of the illness I mentioned to you, and left us all much grieved for the loss of her; for she was a dear good lady, and kind to all us her servants. Much I feared, that as I was taken by her ladyship to wait upon her person, I should be quite destitute again, and forced to return to you and my poor mother, who have enough to do to maintain yourselves; and, as my lady’s goodness had put me to write and cast accounts, and made me a little expert at my needle, and otherwise qualified above my degree, it was not every family that could have found a place that your poor Pamela was fit for: but God, whose graciousness to us we have so often experienced at a pinch, put it into my good lady’s heart, on her death-bed, just an hour before she expired, to recommend to my young master all her servants…Continue reading →
The father of the English novel in its psychological form, Samuel Richardson pioneered the epistolary novel to explore the inner lives of his characters with unprecedented depth. His heroines, particularly Clarissa Harlowe, set the standard for the modern novel's engagement with consciousness and moral complexity. All works by Samuel Richardson →
Browse all Fiction · 17th-18th C works