Sophia King (writer)

[2] Their childhood was tumultuous as their father was involved in a series of highly publicized lawsuits and financial difficulties.

"[4] They worked collaboratively at least once more, when Charlotte contributed the poetry for King's twelfth-century romance The Fatal Secret; or, Unknown Warrior (1801).

Her first, co-authored collection of poetry received "mediocre" reviews,[7] though the circumstances — and the dedication to their disgraced father — were perhaps a factor.

[3] According to the Orlando Project, "Sophia King, like her sister Charlotte Dacre, seems to use the sensational in both her poetry and fiction ... to figure her actual, excruciating family romance.

"[2] King herself would seem to have been considering the possibilities available to genre writers when, in the "Remarks" which preface her poetry collection of 1804, she discusses the relationship of fantasy to good taste.

Ruins of Thespeia Mount Helicon
Ruins of Thespeia, Mount Helicon. Mount Helicon was considered to be a source of poetic inspiration in classic culture. From Edward Dodwell's A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece, during the Years 1801, 1805, and 1806 , Vol. ΙΙ (London: Rodwell & Martin, 1819).
Title page of King's first novel, Waldorf; or, the Dangers of Philosophy