Lifespan: c 1770- c1810
Nationality: English
Types of Work: Novels
Bio:
Mary Julia Young, who began writing in the 1780s and publishing in the 1790s, turned from poetry to mostly novels before the turn of the century. By this time the pressure to earn money must have been a factor in her output: she recycled poems from one volume to another, and chose novel titles designed to comply with fashions of the moment. She also translated. Though capable of intelligent and interesting work, she was obviously turning out pot-boilers late in her career. She was strongly interested in the world of the theatre, and authored an excellent theatrical biography, but is not known to have written drama. Her life is unusually obscure for one of her time and social status.
Even if her first publications were somewhat precocious, MJY can hardly have been born later than 1775. Several of her novels remained anonymous until the publication of her last novel, Heir of Drumconda, in 1810. Given how prolific of a writer she had been, it is believed that she probably died not long after this publication.
From <http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=younma>
Novels:
Adelaide and Antoine; or the Emigrants (1794)
The East Indian or Clifford Priory (1799)
Rosemount Castle (1798)
The Kinsmen of Naples (1803)
Moss Cliff Abbey (1803)
The Mother and Daughter (1804)
A Summer at Brighton (1807)
A Summer at Weymouth (1808)
Heir of Drumcondra; or Family Pride (1810)