Elizabeth Bonhôte

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Elizabeth Bonhôte, née Mapes (1744-1818) was an English novelist and essayist [1].

She was born Elizabeth Mapes in Bungay, Suffolk in 1744 and married one Daniel Bonhote, a member of the local gentry, by whom she bore two daughters. She wrote several elegies and poems in praise of the monarchy before writing her first novel ' The Rambles of Mr Frankly' in 1772. She wrote several more, including 'The Fashionable Friend' in 1773, Hortensia; or The Distressed Wife, in 1777, and Olivia; or The Deserted Bride the following year. She wrote a book of parental advice in 1788, 'The Parental Monitor' which covered subjects such as "Modesty, Happiness, Gratitude, the Importance of time, Dress and fashion, Ambition, Temperance, Pride, Politeness, Conduct to Servants, [and] Death".

She wrote perhaps her most enduring work, Bungay Castle in 1796. It was published by the sensationalist Minerva Press as were several other gothic novels of the time. She wrote a few poems after that date before she died in the town of her birth in July 1818.

[edit] Works

Hortensia, or, The Distressed Wife (1769, published anonymously)
The Rambles of Mr Frankly, Published by his Sister (1772)
Olivia, or, The Deserted Bride (1787)
The Parental Monitor (1788, 2 vols, published by subscription)
Darnley Vale, or, Emelia Fitzroy (1789)
Ellen Woodley (1790)
Bungay Castle (1796). Recently republished by Zittaw Press
Feeling, or, Sketches from Life: a Desultory Poem (1810, published anonymously)