The Absentee

Daughter of the Irish inventor Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Maria Edgeworth cemented her place in literary history by writing what are believed to be the earliest examples of regional literature in the English language. Her novels Castle Rackrent, Belinda, and The Absentee received admiration from both Sir Walter Scott and Jane Austen, among many others. Later in life, Edgeworth edited her father's memoirs and aided in efforts to relieve local peasants from the hardships of the 1846 famine.