Fueled partially by the interest in feminist criticism, which seeks to rediscover an author who may have been overlooked because of her gender, her oeuvre has, in the twentieth century, undergone a reevaluation--or, one might say, a
first evaluation, in that some of her works have only been published recently--a reevaluation which has led to an emerging sense of her importance as a major woman writer before Jane Austen.
Piozzi was born Hester Lynch Salusbury in Wales on 27 January 1741. Her parents, John and Hester Maria Cotton Salusbury, were cousins who were plagued by financial troubles throughout their lives. In an attempt to improve his fortunes, her father made several trips to Nova Scotia under the auspices of Lord Halifax, none of which led him to prosperity. His forced reliance upon his younger brother, Sir Thomas Salusbury, was no doubt humiliating. John Salusbury and his wife were hoping that Thomas, a childless widower, would select their daughter for his heir. They were greatly fond of Hester--their only child--whom they spoiled considerably. John Salusbury was afraid that his precarious financial position would lead his wife to force his daughter into a loveless marriage, a fear which materialized when Mrs.
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