Clarissa
bySamuel Richardson
CompletedDramaPublic domain
Public-domain text, with thanks to Standard Ebooks and other free-text projects.
Clarissa, or The History of a Young Lady is one of the longest novels in the English language. Written by Samuel Richardson over a period of several years and published in 1748, it is composed entirely of letters. Though this may seem daunting, the novel is highly regarded and is considered by many critics as one of the greatest works of English literature, appearing in several lists of the best British novels ever written.