Susan Smythies (born 13 January 1720) was a British story writer from Colchester in Essex.

Life

Smythies was born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

in 1720. Her parents were Susan Puglet and Palmer Smythies. In 1753 Smythies published ''The Stage-coach ...'' which was an early

Novel of circulation The novel of circulation, otherwise known as the it-narrative, or object narrative, is a genre of novel common at one time in British literature, and follows the fortunes of an object, for example a coin, that is passed around between different ow ...

as it has as its subject not a person but an object. In this case it is the stage coach. The book contains the story of Mr. Manly and the other stage coach passengers. The book was repackaged as a two book story for its second edition and as a

Three-volume novel The three-volume novel (sometimes three-decker or triple decker) was a standard form of publishing for British fiction during the nineteenth century. It was a significant stage in the development of the modern novel as a form of popular literatur ...

for its third edition in 1789. One biographer sees her trying to be a female Samuel Richardson, whilst another sees the book as establishing a new approach between the first person narration of Richardson's work and the third person view of

Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel '' Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...

. Smythies next work was ''The History of Lucy Wellers, Written by a Lady'' was published in 1754 and it concerns the story of Lucy of unknown parentage. She resists the attentions of one man and ends up happily married to a landowner. Her most well known story "The Brothers" was nearly not published as several had refused it. Smythies consulted

Samuel Richardson Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), '' Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and ''The History of ...

and he advised her to ignore the publishers. He told her to gather a list of subscribers and in this she was very successful. The publication of "The Brothers" includes the names of the subscribers over 26 pages. Richardson not only subscribed but he added the names too of his children. Notables other names on the list include William Franklin of Pennsylvania,

Tobias Smollett Tobias George Smollett (baptised 19 March 1721 – 17 September 1771) was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for picaresque novels such as ''The Adventures of Roderick Random'' (1748), ''The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle'' (1751) a ...

Garrick Garrick may refer to: * Garrick (name), for the name's origin and people with either the surname or given name, the most famous being: ** David Garrick (1717–1779), English actor * Garrick Club, a London gentlemen's club named in honour of David ...

and Dodsley. The novel was published in 1758 and 35 of the subscribers were from Colchester. She was unusual in writing and being a woman. The lists of books published by women is quite modest and it could be that some of Smythies works have been assigned to her pen even though the evidence is not definitive. The details of her later life are not known, although ''The history of a pin, as related by itself'' "By the author of ‘The Brothers’" was published as a children's story in 1798 and 1799. This publication could be after her death but it is not clear. One source is certain that she was alive in 1774 when her father died and dead by 1798 when her children's story was published.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smythies, Susan British writers British women writers 1720 births Year of death missing People from Colchester