Samuel Richardson (1689—1761) was an English writer, best known for his epistolary novels. He also worked as an established publisher who printed almost 500 different books and magazines. Regarded by many as a masterpiece, the novel «Clarissa; or, the History of a Young Lady» tells the story of a young woman named Clarissa Harlowe, whose way to happiness is constantly endangered by her own family. Pressured to marry a wealthy man, she leaves her home with Robert Lovelace. Even then she can’t find peace, because Lovelace shows himself untrustworthy, spewing vague promises of marriage without any attempts to move from words to deeds.