The Adventures of David Simple

'What a knowledge of the human heart!' wrote Samuel Richardson to Sarah Fielding in 1756. Sarah Fielding was one of the earliest English novelists to explore the feelings of her characters, and her close friend Richardson particularly praised her psychological insight, and her awareness of 'the finer springs and movements' of the heart. David Simple is a hero entirely without guile or duplicity. Unguarded against the hypocrisy of the world, he is tricked out of his inheritance and sets out on a quest for a true and honest friend.