Eliza Haywood was a bestselling 18th century author closely associated with the then-emerging genre of the novel. Little is known of her life beyond her writing. She is best known for her novella Fantomina; or Love in a Maze, a story of female desire and assumed identities that partly subverts the sexual politics at this time.
Likely born Elizabeth Fowler in the late 17th century, she was married before 1713, when she debuted on stage as Eliza Haywood. By 1719, she was living as a single woman in London. In letters, Haywood described her marriage as unfortunate and herself as the sole support of two children, suggesting that she had been unexpectedly widowed or perhaps abandoned by her husband.
