'With blazingly new postsecular eyes, The Origins of the English Marriage Plot argues that the marriage plot in post-1740 English fiction has as much to do with the church as it does with the state. O'Connell challenges the received wisdom that the novel is a secular form, instead persuasively demonstrating the centrality of its religious politics. This is a history of the novel from the vicar's point of view, and what the vicar reveals are surprisingly rich insights into the period's theo-political debates, as well as animating new readings of Richardson, Fielding and beyond.' Katherine Binhammer, University of Alberta
'Supported by careful notes and an extensive bibliography, this volume makes a significant contribution to the study of 18th-century fiction and will be welcomed by specialists.' M. H. Kealy, Choice
'... The depth and breadth of O'Connell's range of reference pairs with attentive, fresh readings of key texts of the canon to produce a singularly exciting work that should significantly restructure the way we think about, discuss, and teach the eighteenth-century English novel.' Elizabeth Kraft, The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
'The Origins of the English Marriage Plot is thoroughly researched, meticulously organized, and written with refreshing clarity. Oriented toward political rather than social history, it handles complex and potentially unfamiliar material with ease. A reader specialized in literature and literary scholarship comes away with an expanded context for the rise of the marriage plot and a much deeper understanding of the political and religious circumstances that occasioned that rise.' Laura Thomason, Eighteenth Century Fiction
'With blazingly new postsecular eyes, The Origins of the English Marriage Plot argues that the marriage plot in post-1740 English fiction has as much to do with the church as it does with the state. O'Connell challenges the received wisdom that the novel is a secular form, instead persuasively demonstrating the centrality of its religious politics. This is a history of the novel from the vicar's point of view, and what the vicar reveals are surprisingly rich insights into the period's theo-political debates, as well as animating new readings of Richardson, Fielding and beyond.' Katherine Binhammer, University of Alberta
'We can learn ... much from this richly textured and expansive study, which represents, engagingly and cogently, aspects of the novel that rarely come into critical focus.' Alison Conway, The Review of English Studies
'Proposing that the 'modern English marriage plot' should be considered a genre in itself, O'Connell's lively and informative book ... is a valuable study, not only for its new analysis of the fictional texts within its scope, but also for providing a useful political, narrative, and genre framework in which to rethink the values underlying eighteenth-century marriage plot structures across plays and novels.' Yasemin Hacioglu, Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
'O'Connell's analysis throws up some surprising and important findings, for instance the remarkable web of connections between the worlds of clandestine marriage and the theatre ...' David Womersley, Recent Studies in the Restoration and Eighteenth Century
'The Origins of the English Marriage Plot['s] ... interest lies not merely in the relationship between law and literature, but also in that between church and state. [It] convincingly argues that 'precisely as a statutory law mandating a religious rite, the Marriage Act realigned English marriage law's relation to church and state' (7). As such it laid the necessary groundwork for the more radical changes of the nineteenth century, even if disputes as to whether marriage is a matter that should be governed by the state continue to this day. O'Connell is particularly strong on the relationship between church and state in the mid-eighteenth century and on the debates about natural law. In foregrounding the role of the church, she shows how clergy were also central to the marriage plot.' Rebecca Probert, Eighteenth-Century Studies
