The romantic novelist Elizabeth Strutt (1783–c.1863) was ideally suited to the task she set herself when, in 1827, she wrote A Spinster's Tour in France (1828). Although she herself was married, her experiences convinced her of the urgent need for a guidebook designed for the unaccompanied 'lady traveller'. Taking readers through every stage of a long and eventful journey from Southampton to Recco (near Genoa), Strutt combines poetic descriptions of picturesque landscapes with practical advice on lodgings, transport and social interaction. Of particular concern, claims Strutt, is the vulnerability of unchaperoned young women at the hands of 'zealous Roman Catholics' who might seek to convert a 'timid child' to their faith. Strutt's book provides an unusual perspective both on European customs and society, and on the mindset of the British travellers who witnessed them.