The Female Quixote – Volume II

In Volume II of Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote; or, The Adventures of Arabella, Arabella’s romance-shaped imagination collides ever more dramatically with the realities of eighteenth-century society. Convinced that honour, jealousy, captivity and heroic devotion govern the world around her, she interprets every encounter through the grand narratives of the French romances she adores, often with bewildering consequences for those who attempt to guide her towards common sense.

Celebrated by Samuel Johnson and admired by Henry Fielding, Lennox’s novel is both witty and deeply perceptive, exploring the power of literature to shape not only our dreams but our understanding of the world itself. At its centre stands Arabella, a heroine of striking intelligence and independence, whose moral seriousness and imaginative conviction set her apart from those around her.

Presented here in its original two-volume form, this P-Wave Classics edition offers a carefully established text based on the 1752 edition, with modernised spelling for readability. The introduction, essay on The World of French Romance, and Glossary of the Romance World appear in Volume I.

Edited with notes and an introduction by L.A. Davenport.

Our classics are produced as comfortable reading editions, with compact A-format paperbacks, readable type, standard paperback paper and, where appropriate, the original volume structure restored. They are designed to make classic literature feel fresh, accessible and a pleasure to read.

Find out how P-Wave Classics are published as books to be read today, not monuments to be endured.

Explore some of the themes and ideas behind Charlotte Lennox's remarkable novel:

• The Female Quixote Is Not a Female Don Quixote: Why Lennox's novel is far more than a simple imitation of Cervantes, and how Arabella's romance-shaped imagination exposes the limitations of the world around her.
• Arabella Lives Inside Fiction: How reading becomes identity, perception, and moral structure, and why The Female Quixote feels surprisingly modern in its understanding of the power of stories.
• Arabella Refuses to Dress Properly: Clothing, spectacle, femininity, and social discipline in Lennox's novel, and how Arabella's appearance challenges the conventions of eighteenth-century society.
• The Price of Becoming Sensible: Why Arabella's famous cure is more ambiguous than it first appears, and what may be lost when imagination yields to reason.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
"Definitely a classic!…I love how this book discusses the dangers of idealistic love and show[s] what real love is. [It] is reminiscent of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey!" Lauralee J, NetGalley.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
"[A] thoughtful book with a compelling story and interesting characters." Reviewer 854813, NetGalley.

Charlotte Lennox (c.1729–1804) was an English novelist, critic, and translator whose work was admired by leading literary figures including Samuel Johnson and Henry Fielding. Born in Gibraltar and raised in England, she supported herself through a wide-ranging literary career that included poetry, fiction, translation, and criticism. Her best-known novel, The Female Quixote (1752), is a witty and perceptive exploration of reading, imagination, and women’s education. Long neglected, Lennox is now recognised as a central figure in the development of the English novel.

L. A. Davenport, born in Cork, Ireland, in 1973, is a novelist and short story writer whose works include The Nucleus of Reality, Escape, and No Way Home. A graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he brings extensive experience in medical journalism to his insightful and engaging fiction and non-fiction.

Learn more about L. A. Davenport and his writing at Pushing the Wave.