Charity, a Tale

Charity, a Tale

Author: Cornelia Turner

Year: 1862

This is the second novel written by Cornelia Turner (née, de Boinville), published in 1862 by Thomas Cautley Newby, the same publisher who swindled Anne and Emily Brontë. Her first novel was Angelo Sanmartino: A Tale of Lombardy in 1859 (1860). Even though Cornelia Turner wrote two novels that supported the Italian unification movement (Risorgimento), she is mostly remembered for her relationships with her famous male contemporaries, namely Percy Bysshe Shelley and Giovanni Ruffini. Brief bio: Cornelia Pauline Eugenia Chastel de Boinville was born in her grandfather John Collins’ house in Willesden, England on 23 February 1795. Her father was Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Chastel de Boinville (c. 1756-1813), an aide-de-camp to General Lafayette. Her mother was Englishwoman Harriet de Boinville, née Collins (1773-1847), an ardent supporter to the French Revolution and influential friend to famous writers, such as Frances Burney, William Godwin, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Giovanni Ruffini