Clara Reeve (23 January 1729 – 3 December 1807) was an English novelist best known for the Gothic novel The Old English Baron (1777). She also wrote an innovative history of prose fiction, The Progress of Romance (1785). Her first work was a translation from Latin, then an unusual language for a woman to learn. Biography Early life Clara Reeve was born in Ipswich, one of the eight children of Reverend William Reeve MA, Rector of Freston and of Kirton, Suffolk, and perpetual curate of St Nicholas, Ipswich. Her mother was the daughter of William Smithies, a goldsmith and jeweller to King George I. Vice-Admiral Samuel Reeve (c. 1733–1803) was her brother. Reeve described her father and her early life in a letter to a friend: Career After the death of her father in 1755, Reeve lived for a time with her mother and sisters in Colchester, then moved into her own house in Ipswich. There her first piece of authorship was a translation from Latin of the historical allegory Argenis by John Barclay, which she entitled The Phoenix (1772). She was saddened by the reception her translation received, later writing, "It was the best book I ever gave to the public, and the worst received." Reeve published at least 24 volumes over a 33-year career as an author. They included five novels, of which only The Champion of Virtue and The Old English Baron (1777) became well known. The latter was written in imitation of The Castle of Otranto or as a rival to it. The two have often been printed together. The first edition, entitled The Old English Baron, was dedicated to the daughter of Samuel Richardson, who is said to have helped Reeve to revise and correct it. It would have a noticeable influence on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818). Reeve also wrote an epistolary novel, The School for Widows (1791), followed by Plans of Education (1792), whose focus was on issues of female education. Her innovative history of prose fiction, The Progress of Romance (1785), can be seen as a precursor to modern histories of the novel. It specifically upholds the tradition of female literary history heralded by Elizabeth Rowe (1674–1737) and Susannah Dobson (died 1795). One story in the work, "The History of Charoba, Queen of Egypt", inspired Walter Savage Landor's first major piece, Gebir (1798). Reeve seems to have managed her publishing career personally, rather