Synopsis

The award-winning and first truly comprehensive (since 1937) biography of Amelia Opie, Quaker poet and novelist (1769-1853).

Amelia Opie’s long and interesting life deserves to be retold, with the inclusion of hitherto unpublished material from archive and private sources. Flirtatious and lively, she moved easily in literary and artistic circles, had many high society friends, and was greatly influenced by – and heavily involved with – the Gurneys of Earlham, whose good works included the prison reforms of Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney) and the anti-slavery campaign of Thomas Fowell Buxton. Under the influence of Joseph Gurney, incomprehensible to her admirers, Amelia Opie became a Quaker at the tender age of 55.