Selina Davenport

Selina Davenport (27 June 1779 – 14 July 1859) was an English novelist, briefly married to the miscellanist and biographer Richard Alfred Davenport. Her eleven published novels have been recently described as "effective if stereotyped".

Early life Selina Granville Wheler was born in London, England, on 27 July 1779, to Captain Charles Granville Wheler and his wife. At an early age, Selina met and later befriended sisters Anna Maria Porter and Jane Porter, who were both to become successful writers in the early 1800s. Of the two sisters, Selina was closer to Jane, and the two women remained friends until Porter died in 1850. She began writing as a means of support for both herself and her two daughters.

Sons of the Viscount, and the Daughters of the Earl (1813) has a typical plot of family enmity and seduction and involves two sisters who fall in love with two brothers. One pair achieves marital bliss; the other are divided by "giddiness" and eventual death. Italian Vengeance and English Forbearance (1828) features an avenging woman who shoots her seducer dead in a duel.

Later life In addition to writing novels, Davenport supported her family financially with various business ventures that included running a coffee house and a dance school. Her husband, on the other hand, sought to prevent her from receiving payments from the fund. The Hypocrite: or, The Modern Janus; a Novel (London: Minerva Press, 1814) Personation: a Novel (London: A. K. Newman and Co., 1834)

Etexts The Sons of the Viscount. And the Daughters of the Earl (1813): Full text at HathiTrust The Hypocrite: or, The Modern Janus (1814): Full text at HathiTrust and Internet Archive Donald Monteith, the Handsomest Man of the Age (1815): Full text at HathiTrust An Angel's Form and a Devil's Heart (1818): Full text at HathiTrust Preference (1824): Full text at Google Books: Vol. I, II The Queen's Page: a Romance (1831): Full text at Google Books: Vol. I, II, III The Unchanged (1832): Full text at Google Books: Vol. I, II, III Personation (1834): Full text at Google Books: Vol. I, II, III