The only available English translation of writings by an Enlightenment-era Dutch aristocrat, writer, composer-and woman.

Born Dutch, noble, and free-spirited, Isabelle de Charriere (also known as Belle de Zuylen) was an enlightened woman whose writings-not unlike Jane Austen's-tackled the intricacies of high society, particularly in matters of love. Published when she was only twenty- two, "The Nobleman" is aPersuasion-like tale whose heroine challenges her stodgy father in order to marry a man of unassuming ancestry. But Charriere did not confine herself to simple...