Hannah More was a public figure at a time when domesticity was regarded as women's chief virtue. Her career as playwright, bluestocking, Evangelical educationalist, anti-slavery campaigner, political writer, and novelist made her one of the most influential women of her day. This is the firstsubstantial biography of More for fifty years and the first to make extensive use of her unpublished correspondence. Anne Stott reveals her as a more lively and attractive character than previous stereotypes have suggested. She demonstrates that More was a complex and contradictory figure: aconservative who was accused of political and religious subversion, an ostensible antifeminist who opened up new opportunities for female activism.