JH
became in 1794 an early and unusual practitioner of the new genre of the guidebook. As a poet she begins in introspection and expands to consider, in briskly colloquial style, such topics as political controversies and new inventions like the railway. As a novelist she veers with the winds of fashion, but handles her themes with unfailing intelligence. In the earlier novels especially, the central love-story is upstaged by colourful minor characters and frequently by accompanying feminist analysis as well.