Edgeworth was born in Oxfordshire in 1767 or 1768. She was the daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth and Anna Maria Edgeworth. When her father married again to his second wife, she went with him to Ireland. There, she helped her father and managed her father's land. Because of this, she became friends with lots of fashionable people and with Irish peasants. This was very useful to her later in writing her novels. At first she used to write for children, but in 1800 she published her first adults' novel, "Castle Rackrent". Lots of people liked "Castle Rackrent," which was an immediate success.