The adventure of a life: Aphra Behn

All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn,... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds. (Virginia Woolf: A room of one's own)

Today is the International Women's Day, a very special day for women, maybe you think we don't need a day dedicated only to women but it is still a long way in front of us. Aphra Behn is the woman whose life we will revise today. She was born in Kent (about 1640) when she became a widow, she had to do a lot of different things to survive, she not only travelled to Surinam, but worked as a spy for the king Charles II (England and the Dutch were at war at the time). She spent a time in prison because of her debts (king Charles was not a good payer), after that she started to write, her plays were well received by the public and she made herself a living out of her writings. And this is the most outstanding point in Aphra Behn's life, she was the first woman who could live of her earnings as a writer. Her tomb is in Westminster Abbey, a great honour for British people.