Cecilia Beverely is a young woman who is set to inherit a fabulous fortune but there is a stipulation: she only receives the money if she marries a man who agrees to take her surname. While waiting to come of age and collect her inheritance, Cecilia is put under the care of three guardians with their own agendas and encounters a series of suitors only interested in her money. A scathing satire of upper-class society in 18th century England, Cecilia is a funny, thoughtful book celebrated in its time and continuously read ever since even inspiring the works of Austen and Thackeray.