Oroonoko

Aphra Behn (c.1640–89), or Astrea, was a poet, author and playwright, best remembered today as being one of the first English women to earn a living with her pen, as well as for her work as a spy for Charles II.

• To the Right Honourable the Lord Maitland, Oroonoko, Note on the Text, Notes, Extra Material: A Brief Introduction to Aphra Behn, More Information about Aphra Behn, A Note on Oroonoko

'All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.' (Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own)