Aphra Behn was daughter of Bartholomew Johnson, a Canterbury barber. She gained a good education because of her mother’s job as a wet
nurse to a rich family. As she was an “ordinary” girl, we do not know all the facts. But she had to make her own way in the world.

Famous in her lifetime, Aphra Behn’s memory, and her work, were deliberately ignored for two centuries. Her successors could not forgive her for having been a woman. To hear more about how Aphra’s work has been viewed after her death, click here.