Sarah Scott was born the youngest of nine children in North Yorkshire but spent most of her childhood on her mother's estate in Kent. When she was young, Scott caught small pox and was left severely disfigured by the scarring. She hid herself in books until she eventually married her husband, George Lewis Scott, only to scandalously flee his home some months later. There has been much speculation as to why the couple separated, rumours spread about domestic abuse to an illicit affair between Sarah and her best friend, Lady Barbara Montagu. Destitute and belonging to no man, Sarah and Lady Barbara settled in Bath where they lived and volunteered to help the poor. In 1762, Sarah published her most successful novel Millenium Hall. Sarah lived humbly until 1795.

A Description of Millenium Hall And the Country Adjacent Together with the Characters of the Inhabitants and Such Historical Anecdotes and Reflections As May Excite in the Reader Proper Sentiments of Humanity, and Lead the Mind to the Love of Virtue was written by Sarah Scott (1723 - 1795). In 1762,Scott published her novel, A Description of Millenium Hall. From Wikipedia, "The book takes the form of a frame tale and a series of adventures, as each resident of the female Utopia relates how she arrived at Millenium Hall. The adventures are remarkable for their reliance on a nearly superstitious form of divine grace, where God's will manifests itself with the direct punishment of the wicked and the miraculous protection of the innocent. In one tale, a woman about to be ravished by a man is saved, literally by the hand of God, as her attacker dies of a stroke. The Hall the characters live in is a model of mid-century reform ideas. All the women have crafts with which to better themselves. Property is held in common, and education is the primary pastime."