Sophia
Lee is best
known for The Recess; or, A Tale of Other Times
a historical-gothic novel which was an influence on Ann
Radcliffe and Sir Walter Scott.
Sophia Lee
and her sisters ran a school for young ladies in Bath, which some believe
Ann Radcliffe may have attended. Byron
took the plot for his Werner
from Harriet and Sophia Lee's The
German's Tale.
After
the death of Mary Wollstonecraft, William
Godwin asked Sophia's sister Harriet to marry him. He
was refused, largely owing to the scandal surrounding his newly published account
of Mary's affairs.