The Noble Slaves

Penelope Aubin (c. 1679–1738) was an English novelist, translator, and preacher who became one of the most prolific women writers of the early eighteenth century. The illegitimate daughter of Sir Richard Temple of Stowe and Anne Charleton, she married Abraham Aubin in 1696 and had three children. She began publishing poetry in 1707, then between 1721 and 1728 produced seven adventure novels, including The Strange Adventures of the Count de Vinevil, The Life of Madam de Beaumont, and The Noble Slaves. Her fiction blended elements of travel narrative, moral instruction, and religious devotion, often sending her heroines through exotic perils across Europe and beyond. Aubin also translated several French works and, later in life, gave public sermons — an unusual activity for a woman of her era. Though overshadowed by Defoe and Richardson in later literary histories, she was among the earliest English women to earn a living by the pen.