E. M. Foster (fl. late 18th – early 19th c.) was a Romantic-era woman novelist. Some 14 popular novels of hers appeared in London between 1795 and 1810.Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, eds., ''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present''. London: Batsford, 1990, p. 388.

Novels

''The Duke of Clarence. An historical novel'' (1795, signed E. M. F.)British Library. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
/ref> takes place in the 15th century, presented in what a modern critic has called "an incongruous style". The plot involves an illegitimate boy who is advised to reclaim his unhappy mother, but who finds it hard to lay down his arms after the

Battle of Bosworth Field The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field ( ) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of House of Lancaster, Lancaster and House of York, York that extended across England in the latter half ...

, which ended the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...

. Foster's writing gained confidence as she turned to more modern subject-matter in ''Frederic and Caroline, or the Fitzmorris Family'' (1800, E. M. F.), which she dedicated to the

Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for t ...

. It was one of four novels of hers to appear in that year, and includes a scene set in the Minerva Circulating Library, which was associated with the

Minerva Press Minerva Press was a publishing house, notable for creating a lucrative market in sentimental and Gothic fiction, active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries (1790–1820). It was established by William Lane (c. 1745–1814) at No 33 Lead ...

, responsible for most of her books. ''Light and Shade: a novel. By the author of 'Federetta (a pseudonym of Mrs E. M. Foster), was published in 1803 in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and London and described as being by the author of "Rebecca, Judith, Miriam, etc."

Views

Foster's conservative social views appear particularly in ''The Corinna of England, and a Heroine in the Shade'' (1809), in which retribution is wreaked on a shallowly portrayed version of the French author

Germaine de Staël Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (; ; 22 April 176614 July 1817), commonly known as Madame de Staël ( ; ), was a prominent philosopher, woman of letters, and political theorist in both Parisian and Genevan intellectual circles. She was ...

's heroine of that name. This work has also been ascribed to another novelist active at the time, Mrs. E. G. Bayfield, perhaps through a confusion at the publisher's. Foster's work largely endorses mainstream Christian morals, often taking an ironic approach through a narrator, who identifies as a woman with a proto-feminist outlook.Susan Brown, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, eds
Mrs E. M. Foster: Overview
. In ''Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Online, 2006. . 19 May 2020.

Life

E. M. Foster's personal details and life remain "obscure". She is one of the "lost" women writers listed by

Dale Spender Dale Spender (22 September 1943 – 21 November 2023) was an Australian feminist scholar, teacher, writer and consultant. In 1983, Dale Spender was co-founder of and editorial advisor to Pandora Press, the first of the feminist imprints devo ...

in '' Mothers of the Novel: 100 Good Women Writers Before Jane Austen''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, E. M. English women novelists 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English novelists English historical novelists