The Castle of Wolfenbach

Eliza Parsons (1739-1811) was an English novelist. Born in Plymouth, Devon, she was the only daughter of wine merchant John Phelp and his wife Roberta. She grew up in relative prosperity, receiving an education uncommon for women of her time. In 1760, Eliza married James Parsons, with whom she raised three sons and five daughters. During the American Revolutionary War, Parsons’ turpentine business suffered terrible losses, forcing the family to live frugally. When a warehouse fire destroyed his property, and as illness and death tore through their tight-knit family, Eliza stepped in to provide for their children. Between 1790 and 1807, she wrote nineteen novels and a play, specializing in the Gothic style popular in England and Europe in the late nineteenth century. Although fame and financial stability eluded her, she proved a consistent and skilled storyteller, earning moderate praise for her novel The Castle of Wolfenbach (1793). Although she frequently apologized for her writing in the prefaces to her works—which she used primarily to appeal to readers on behalf of her children—Parsons was a gifted creator of compelling fiction and a pioneering figure in English literary history.