Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded – Samuel Richardson

"O how I cursed my fatal face! that has been the cause of all my miseries."

Pamela Andrews, a pious and beautiful teenage maidservant, fends off the relentless sexual advances of her master, Mr. B. Through her letters and journals, she chronicles her imprisonment, her psychological torture, and her steadfast defense of her virtue. Eventually, her moral fortitude reforms Mr. B, who marries her, elevating her to the upper class.

Richardson's epistolary novel was a cultural phenomenon that sparked the first modern 'media frenzy'. It established the psychological novel and explored complex themes of class, gender, and the power dynamics of desire.