The author of this book is a great lover of Jane Austen. However, one day she questioned what actually came between her beloved Jane and the Brontes. What female literary work existed in the 150 years between 1760 and 1910? In this book she has taken seven female authors who lived and wrote in that period and has looked at the issues they faced, their successes and their legacy.

The writers she features are Charlotte Turner smith (1749 – 1806), Helen Maria Williams (1759 – 1827), Mary Robinson (1758 – 1800), Catherine Crowe (1800 – 1876), Sara Coleridge (1802 – 1852), Dinah Murlock Craik (1826 – 1887) and Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835 – 1915). You may not be familiar with many of these names, although you will certainly have heard of some of their work; such as Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s, “Lady Audley’s Secret” or “Phantasmion,” by Sara Coleridge (daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

For many of these women, though, writing was a difficult process. Sara Coleridge grieved for the loss of her writing time as her marriage approached and only completed her novel by going to stay in isolation – pleading illness with her husband and making excuses as to why she could neither return home to their children or continue with the visit she had initially embarked on. Others were less willing to accept the norms of the day. Mary Robinson left her husband and took lovers, including the future George IV – resorting to blackmail to support herself. Less unhappily, but also scandalously, Mary Elizabeth Braddon faced public censure to live unmarried with a man, who was separated from his wife, but unable to divorce her.

All of these women faced their own personal issues – from needing to financially support themselves to having the expectations of marriage and childbirth, or the dependency of spinsterhood, to deal with. Dinah Murlock Craik announced that an unhappy marriage was worse than no marriage, but most women felt restricted by a life where working opportunities were few and their lives were more domestic than men. Hopefully, this collection of potted biographies will help you discover some lesser known literary women and explore their work for yourself.45 s Beverly892 350

The story of 7 female writers who were extremely popular from the Recency era through the Victorian era, but who have now been forgotten, are told about in Not Just Jane. These women were expected to fulfill their duty as wives and mothers, and not let anything get in the way of that worthy goal.

Unfortunately, all women do not meet and marry reliable, trustworthy men who can provide for them and their children. Usually, economic reasons forced these women to become writers to feed and house their children, since their husbands were gamblers, inept at business, drunkards, drug addicts, or went away with other women. Some times the men had more than one of these afflictions.

I had read a book by one of the women that DeWees talks about and enjoyed it very much. Mrs Audley's Secret is the name of that book by Mary Elizabeth Braden. I am going to try another by her after reading this. All the women had very difficult struggles, but persevered and were able to make lives for themselves and their offspring through their writing. It is a pity that they have not gotten the same respect and had not the longevity of their male counterparts.women-writers41 s Erin3,250 476

Jane, Charlotte, Emily(and Anne) Bronte, George Eliot(Mary Ann Evans), and Virginia Woolf are all wonderfully talented writers and their often quite socially subversive work undoubtedly transformed the British literary tradition- that's not up for debate, and diminishing their gifts and achievements is not at all what this book is about....There had to be other British women writing and publishing alongside them and I decided to find out who they were, what they wrote about, and why their work was missing from my bookcase and from our cultural curricula.

I absolutely enjoy a book that sets an author on a self-appointed mission to discover things and makes me realize that I wanted to know those answers too! So glad that the author includes a list of each of these seven women at the back of the book because my TBR definitely needs another challenge. As Shelley DeWees challenges in her Afterword, The only thing better than British literature is more British literature and I couldn't agree more.

The seven authors are; Charlotte Turner Smith, Helen Maria Williams, Mary Robinson, Catherine Crowe, Sara Coleridge, Dinah Mulrock Craik, and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Each of their stories was so fascinating, but I do recognize that not every reader is going to be won over by DeWees ' academic way of writing. But the author I absolutely love all things Jane Austen so it was a runaway winner for sure.kobo30 s TL 1,990 113

Overall a fascinating read.
----

I came across this by chance and was immediately intrigued by the title... reading the summary cinched the deal and I ordered the book right away. Since I am a Mood reader (which sucks sometimes), I waited for the "opportune moment" (as Jack Sparrow would say) to crack it open.

Reading this book made me glad to discover these ladies that contributed so much and are sadly, not as well known as they should be. I had heard of some of these titles as it turns out, in passing but never connected it to the authoress'... something I plan to rectify in the future.

*This also made me glad I didn't live back in those times... I would have gone mad or probably tried to whack my husband over the head if he was anything Charlotte's. I used to say I'd be a spinster but seeing in print the reality of that situation too... maybe I would taken up the pen and become an Authoress, who knows? My friend Karen in the UK thinks I would have been one of these pioneering ladies in a past life since I seem to "identify with the material" I believe were her words :).*

Charlotte, Catherine, and Dinah stuck out to me the most... all of these ladies had that special 'something' and fascinating lives, but these three shined the brightest for me. Dinah and I would have been good friends methinks.

Why those three? Can't put my finger on it, but kindred spirits maybe... it was hard to put the book down when reading about their lives. I wanted to go back in time to meet them, visit for awhile.

Hearing the history of the time each Lady lived in was fascinating, a little dry in places but never boring. The novel really shines as Miss DeWees brings each one to the forefront.

Side note: I did want to whack the backwards-thinking society many times...

I would love to travel as the author did and see the places these women lived... maybe one day :) (I'll drag my UK besties with me too hehe)

Would highly recommend,:)21 s TWISTARELLA1,673 37

Interesting and fun book. The writer chooses 7 authors that are less known than Jane Austen, The Brontes and George Eliot and dedicates about 40 pages to each, giving you enough information of their lives, how they came to write, and a general overview of what it was to be a woman during the very late 18th century until the very early 20th. It starts with Charlotte Turner Smith ( 1749- 1808 ) and ends with Mary Elizabeth Braddon ( 1835-1915 ).

They were all interesting women and there are a few of their novels I intend to hunt down, starting with Lady Audley's Secret which I should have read already, seeing as I once owned a copy of it 20 odd years ago and never did back then. My bad.14 s Amal Bedhyefi196 684

I really don't know how to rate this book . I think that this book will only appeal to people who have a genuine interest in knowing some of the british female writers that wrote as good as Jane Austen but unfortunately aren't as well known .
I d how she narrated each story and I've learned a lot from this book as i knew nothing about these authors before picking it up . In fact , i didn't even know they existed . I know right !! shame lol
HOWEVER , the only thing that didn't sit well with me is how she placed Jane Austen alongside the Bronte Sisters as if they belonged to the same period ( Jane Austen is not a victorian in case you didn't know) .
DeWees's focus on having Jane Austen on the romantic side irritated me so much because Jane Austen, though writing during the Romantic era, was not actually a part of the Romantic movement herself .
Overall , it was an enjoyable read.
8 s Shay752 18

Not Just Jane is at its weakest when it tries to explain why these women are not remembered, but shines when the women themselves step to the forefront. DeWees ably highlights the gaps in our knowledge as she advocates for an expansion of the canon. more7 s Anna Kay1,384 164

I can hear your voices now, saying how can you three star it if it's a dnf for you Anna? Well I'll tell you in just a bit. Reasons for dnf/full review to come soon.

Full Review/Reasons I DNF'ed

So, really there is only one reason for this (at least that I can think of): I am not an academically minded person. And when I say that, I don't mean that I only enjoy fiction and never read non-fic -- that's a false statement. Or that I consider myself to be unintelligent -- that is another false statement. I graduated from college with degrees in Business Administration and Liberal Arts. I also love to read and frequently do so, on a daily basis usually.



When I say "not academically minded," I mean that when I go into a non-fiction book I also generally look for something that will entertain me as well as educate me on a subject (be it person, time period, object, etc.). It takes a very specific style of non-fic writing to engage me as a reader, and keep me interested enough to finish the book. This is why I usually stick to memoirs or entertainment history -- they are usually written in an extremely personable style, somewhat similar to fiction. But I was very interested in reading this because I wanted to maybe add to my reading list, with some important women authors I had never heard of before. I made it about 40% of the way through before I called it quits. This book is dry as fuck. Facts, facts and more facts. Nothing but the facts - it reads someone's college thesis project, although I'm sure there's more interesting theses out in the world that I could read from beginning to end. I feel a lot of Austen/Bronte fans and people who enjoy learning more about that time in Europe's history will enjoy this book. It's just not for me personally. So I finally decided to stop inching my way through it (it's been over a month since I started reading this book!) and being a masochist. Period, end of discussion. But I did make it 40% of the way through, and it is a well written & researched book. Hence the three star rating.

non-fic not-my-cup-of-tea6 s Kathleen FlynnAuthor 1 book416

This was a wonderful look at seven 18th- and 19th-century female writers who are now largely forgotten and unread. Their tales of how brilliance and hard work triumphed over a suffocatingly sexist society are inspiring in themselves but also provide valuable context for better-known writers of the era. And I have lots of new ideas about what to read! Thanks, Shelley DeWees.

I will agree with what some other reviewers said here and suggest skipping or at least skimming the introduction. It picks an odd straw-man fight with Austen and the Brontes that doesn't make too much sense and has little to do with the rest of the book, which is fascinating, erudite yet not dryly academic.6 s changeableLandscape2,185 25

I don't usually review books that I don't finish, because I don't feel I know enough about them to make a judgement. This one, though, I am sending back to the library unread because DeWees, under the guise of 'rediscovering' female authors, has written a piece of nonsense that relies heavily upon sexist and classist myths about women and authorship while ignoring decades of actual scholarship by actual women.

The idea that there were female authors before Jane Austen is not a new one; Dale Spender's 1986 work Mothers of the Novel covers 100 female novelists who wrote before Austen, some of whom Austen mentioned in her letters as having inspired her own work. These women basically invented the entire genre of novels, were immensely popular authors in their own day, and only began to be forgotten when men realised that money-making potential of the field and started moving in and denigrating the women's work. Nor is the existence of female authors between Austen & Bronte a scholarly revelation; the 'Silver Fork' genre of the 1820s and 1830s was largely created by women, as Alison Adburgham documented back in 1983 in her Silver Fork Society: Fashionable Life And Literature From 1814 To 1840. And indeed, there were many prolific female authors throughout the Victorian era, many of whom are actually studied in English literature programs -- it was while doing my BA in English Lit that I was introduced to Mary Elizabeth Braddon among many others.

Unfortunately, DeWees is in utter ignorance of all of this. She has apparently not read any of the scholarship in the field -- or if she has, she ignores it in the pursuit of her sensationalised narrative about those rare, noble, courageous women who broke into publishing despite all the odds against them. I could argue with pretty much every other sentence in her book, from her claim that Fanny Burney is the beginning of the female literary scene (she wasn't, she was writing as part of a female literary tradition that went back decades if not farther) to her belief that women couldn't write a picaresque because their lives were too constrained (as though women could only write from experience, never imagination) to the idea that all the women in 18th century England were living on family land they weren't allowed to leave without an escort (when, of course, most women were working class and thus had no land, and if we are looking to novels for examples of behaviour, Austen has Lizzie Bennet walk three miles to Netherfield alone).

I could go on & on, but maybe I'll save it for my own book about all the forgotten women authors of the past two centuries, and the way in which many of the assumptions about women that DeWees takes for granted in this terrible book contribute to them remaining forgotten. I am clearly as qualified to write it as DeWees was to write this.literary-criticism5 s Christine6,874 525

The purpose of this book seems to be to make more British women writers of the mid-1700s to early 1900s more well-known. It’s true that if you are holder in a literature degree, you would have heard of a few of these writers (I heard of all seven, but that is in part because of John Sutherland’s Lives of the Novelists), but the average person less so. The most famous of the group is Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

The book is less history or literary analysis than more these women are kind of cool – outside of writing, many of them lead somewhat un-norm or scandalous lives. It should also be noted that influence or success and literary achievement are sometimes too different things. Think 50 Shades of Grey for instance. They might be a reason why these women are largely forgotten in terms of literature. While at times, DeWees does show how the women might have influenced or changed literature, that aspect of the book, almost central to the thesis, does take a back seat. She also neglects some parallels for instance, Sara Coleridge seems to have fulfill the role for her father’s literary legacy as Mary Shelley did for that of her husband.

Still these qualms aside, the book is an enjoyable and at times, thought provoking book. The read is enjoyable, and DeWees has done her legwork.

Just one other qualm though.

In the chapter about Mary Robinson, De Wees notes that the author formed a relationship with “a British war hero from the American Revolution, Colonel Banastre Tarleton” (129). Without a doubt, the British saw Tarleton as a war hero; the thing is American history is not as nice to the Bloody Butcher who was involved in some ways with massacre of American patriots. Considering how well informed and documented other sections of the book are, the fact that this is not mentioned seems just a little off, almost as if DeWees doesn’t want us to think less of Robinson. I don’t think less of Robinson, she was British after all, but it does affect how I view DeWees writing.
diverse-and-women-authors feminist literary-criticism-biography6 s booklady2,452 64 Shelved as 'abandoned'

Started this about a week ago so I could have something fun to read when I needed a break. I have read some books by several of the authors DeWees writes about and they are all great!

This is excellent but my reasons for reading have changed, so I'm putting this on the backburner until there is more time for fun reading.20234 s Margaret1,040 383

Some of it was interesting and I agree that taking a fresh look at these authors is a good thing. (It made me want to go back and reread some Mary Elizabeth Braddon, for instance.) However, any book which sets up a dichotomy between Romanticism vs. Realism and has Jane Austen on the Romantic side with the Brontes is just not going to fly with me, not to mention referring to Dickens as a "high-minded litterateur".2017-read authors-cd literary-history3 s Kathy3,610 257

It is women's month, and I thought it lucky to find this book at my library while I was reading Charlotte Smith's first published novel, Emmeline. The author gives us well researched portraits of seven women writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. "However limited their careers, however much they were impeded, these seven women embraced the reality of their time, and in doing so they transformed Britain's literary tradition."3 s VL1,059 23

LOVE this book. advance-reader-books3 s SmartBitches491 635

Full review at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Not Just Jane: Rediscovering Seven Amazing Women Writers Who Transformed British Literature is a fascinating look at the works and lives of seven English authors: Charlotte Turner Smith, Helen Maria Williams, Mary Robinson, Catherine Crowe, Sara Coleridge, Dinah Mulock Craik, and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. The book profiles how their careers were shaped by the society they lived in, and how their writing, in turn, shaped society.

Because the author, Shelley DeWees, is primarily writing about books that I haven’t read (YET) I can’t assess whether she’s a good critic of the books by the women she’s profiling.

However, I can say with VERY OPINIONATED CAPSLOCK that her grouping of Wuthering Heights with Jane Austen’s works and with Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is so off-base as to be bizarre.

One of the fun things about the book is that while all of the women have many things in common, their lives also are quite different. Charlotte Turner Smith had a horrible marriage and finally managed to dump her husband, more or less, but always had to give him money. For the most part, other than her writing, she led a pretty conventional life. On the other end of the “respectable” spectrum is Mary Robinson, the mistress of Prince George (who became King George IV). All of these women paid some kind of social price for their writing and their choices, but many ended up quite happy, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, who weathered years of devastating scandal but was lauded as a mainstay of English literature by the time of her death.

All of these women were kickass in their own way and to the best of their abilities. Most experienced tragedy, and some seemed consistently immersed in it, poor Sara Coleridge who deeply resented her domestic duties and became addicted to opium. But other prevailed, Dinah Mulock Craik, who married late and for love, and adopted a baby, all the while supporting herself with her pen.

This is a niche book that will only appeal to people who have a specific interest in the subject matter. As it happens, I’m pretty sure we have several readers who do have such an interest. To these readers, I say, avoid the introduction and you’ll be happy. It truly is a lovely book, one which has greatly expanded my knowledge on the topic. And yes, I will be reading Lady Audley’s Secret, even though I already know what the secret is.

- Carrie S. b-grade nonfiction2 s Melissa2,502 169

Very interesting and readable literary biography about seven women who were best-selling authors in the 19th century but aren't well-known these days (except Mary Elizabeth Braddon, she's probably the best known of the set). Very fun to read and so interesting (frustrating?) in that history always, always repeats itself (omg, the ladeez they are writing THINGS and people are READING THEM because IMPROVED ACCESS and won't someone think of the children! - Victorians can hand-wring with the best of them).

Out October 2016 from HarperPerennial (thanks for the ARC, Olive!)

(ETA: I got the first Goodreads review/rating for the first time ever. How is that possible?)badass-ladies books-about-books to-review3 s Karen Barber2,774 69

A thoroughly researched look at lesser known female writers.
The writer's passion for her subject shines throughout, and this is a genuinely exciting read.
As an English graduate I'm embarrassed that women writers who were so popular in their respective times have not been heard of. It shows just how what we think of as the canon of English literature has been moulded by others' wishes/politics.
The information given about these women was interesting, and has certainly made me want to try and locate some of their writings.
Thankyou to edelweiss and the publishers for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.2 s Vgathright208

Fun to learn about 18th-19th century British writers. Got a bit tired of the author's recurring tirade about how terrible life was for women in the that time period. Although I wouldn't trade the freedoms I have now, for the limitations I would have living then, I do think it's a bit short sighted to conclude that every woman who lived during that time period was miserable. The author doesn't take in account selection bias. Meaning the women who wrote about how miserable they were and turned to writing fiction to deal with their limitations may not have been fully representative of all of their contemporaries. Other then the author's soap box, it was a fun read.2 s Holly497

LOVED IT. <3 Full review to come!2 s Isabelle334 29

Fascinating book about seven British authoresses during the 18th and 19th centuries who not only were vastly unconventional, but have also become forgotten. Each chapter focuses on one of the authoresses and is semi-biography and semi-literary criticism of their work. Although I've spent my life delving into 19th century British literature with obsessive levels; I'd only heard about one novel by the women presented in this book. I've added a few books on my to-read list after finishing this one. And the authoresses lives we're all fascinating! I even bought a biography of one of them (Mary Robinson for those who are curious) to continue going deeper into her life-story. It's a shame that these female mavericks have been forgotten, but I applaud DeWees for remedying this oversight.biography books-i-own british-literature ...more1 Meghan116 5

This book was wonderful in many ways. It was great to learn about female authors apart from the typical 19th century trifecta: The Brontes, Austen, and Eliot. Learning about womanhood during that time period enhanced the meaning of these books, too. My to-be-read list has been expanded! Can't wait to check out these new authors. As Shelley DeWees says, the only thing better than Brit lit is more Brit lit.1 Ting254 2

Meh. Interesting bios but the fact that the author conflates Austen and Bronte makes me skeptical that she gets it right about these other women writers. 2 stars for effort.1 Poppy6 15

A really enjoyable, easily-readable series of biographies. DeWees' style is warm, witty, and refreshingly human, and the women she chooses to highlight are fascinating. The book doesn't pretend to be 'academic', but provides a really interesting insight into the lives of seven influential female writers of the British Romantic and Victorian periods. 1 Souzana L.390 3

Here's some information:

Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806)

A violent husband, Benjamin Smith, ended up in debtor prison several times and was incapable of contributing constructively to society or his family - Charlotte and their twelve children.

At one point she accompanied her husband in his stay in the King’s Bench Prison, Southwark. Benjamin Smith was the son of a wealthy co-director of the East India Company (Richard Smith) and Charlotte married him when she was fifteen.

A strong incentive for her writing (especially her novels) was to make a living. An inheritance from her father-in-law (Richard) was tied up in the court for nearly 40 years.

Later on she lives in a dilapidated castle in France until she decides to abandon her husband and return to England.

Divorce involved ecclesiastical courts and an Act of Parliament between 1700 and 1857. Three hundred people attempted it, mostly men.

Charlotte enjoyed strong connections with all of her children.

Sir Lionel Smith, First Baronet, as the governor of Jamaica, had the honor of ending the practice on the island after the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 - Charlotte was a vehement abolitionist.

Charlotte’s books are not in the local library. Lorraine Fletcher: Charlotte Smith: A Critical Biography.
…………...........

Helen Maria Williams (1759-1827)

One of the interesting aspects of Helen Maria is her association with Monique Coquerel du Fosse whose family’s personal experiences of French aristocratic authoritarianism would form the central plot in her work: Letters Written in France - in the summer of 1790.

In 1790, she went to France on Monique du Fosse’s invitation, lived in Paris and wrote about the French Revolution in a second volume of Letters from France. Although condemning the Jacobin Maximilien Robespierre and the brutality of the Reign of Terror she retained her belief in a progressive political system.

Her work was lauded as one of the first published responses to the Revolution. Critics refused to acknowledge her views but she persisted in her work as a writer with valid opinions.

Later on, she became involved with a man called John Hurford Stone, and raised her sister’s (Cecilia) two children. Cecilia’s husband was Monique du Fosse’s nephew; Cecilia died in 1798.

Her childhood in Berwick-upon-Tweed (close to her mother’s Scottish family after her Welsh army officer father’s death). She was able to develop her literary skills initially despite a lack of teaching resources. Clergyman Stockdale, a local churchman, was impressed with her writing abilities.

Later on, returning to London, where she had been born, she was able to pursue her poetry and literary interests with the initial help of her family’s Presbyterian congregation leader, Dr. Andrew Kippis.

Deborah Kennedy: Deborah Kennedy: Helen Maria and the Age of Revolution.
......................

Mary Robinson (1758-1800)

Familiar pattern of an early, arranged marriage. Mary went to debtors' prison (Fleet Prison) accompanying husband, Thomas Ronbinson, who was extremely irresponsible. A daughter, Mary Elizabeth was born in these early years.

Talented actress, with a sense of fashion, whose abilities enabled her to enter high society with a flourish. Initially, she had established had established an acquaintance with Georgina Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire, through her poetry and previously to that, through a Drury Lane Theatre stage manager David Garrick and later, Richard Sheridan

Embarked on this career to fund their marriage along with poetry and other writings. Mary wrote realistic about the role of women in society and their struggle for recognition.

Attracted the attention of wealthy and famous men including the Prince of Wales, future George IV (first public mistress). Obtained funding from them to fund an extravagant lifestyle but was ultimately unable to manage her finances adequately for a lifetime.

A miscarriage and subsequent infection, during her long assocication with Colonel Banastre Tarleton (American Revolution) affected her for the rest of her life.

Ended her days with her daughter near Englefield Green as a highly recognized intellectual, writer and literary critic.
............................

Catherine Crowe (1803-1876)

Pioneered the more active girl in her detective fiction (Susan Hopley) which launched her writing career.

After an unhappy marriage, with the help of friends and financial independence, she settled in Edinborough. She lived with her son, his wife and granddaughter towards the end of her life.

She had an interest in the supernatural (and got into an untoward incident when she went out undressed in the street - possibly as a result of stress). She wrote ghost stories amongst other spiritual writings: The Night Side of Nature. Also wrote two plays: Aristodemus and The Cruel Kindness.

Also wrote children’s books including versions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin for young readers. Round the Fire is in the anthology: Victorian Ghost Stories.
.............................

Sara Colleridge (1802-1852)

Unable to fulfill many of her literary aspirations due to female family norms of the times. Physical and mental health issues led to opium use. Early translation of a latin text: Account of the Abipones, by Martin Dobrizhoffer

Married to her cousin, Henry James Coleridge, a lawyer; two surviving children Herbert and Edith.

Edited her father’s work (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) and pursued a more public life in literary circles after her husband’s death freed her up.

Local library books: January brings the Snow, The Months, The Gang: Coleridge, the Hutchinsons and Wordsworths in 1802. Bradford Keyes Mudge: Sara Coleridge, A Victorian Daughter.
............................

Dinah Mullock Craik (1826-1887)

Left to support herself at a teenager she started writing for magazines to earn a living. Early poetry had been brought to the attention of Robert Chambers, Catherine Crowe’s friend who published her work in the Edinburgh Journal.

An inheritance and good negotiating skills with a publisher (Hurst and Blackett) enabled her to increase her income to the point where she had the time to write many novels including John Halifax, a tradesman.

Married later in life to George Lillie Craik (accountant), raised a foundling child (left literally on the side of the road) whom she named Dorothy. Wrote many books (at her house in Shortlands Road, Bromley, outside London) before her death (of sudden heart failure), which occurred just before her daughter’s wedding.

Some book titles: Christian’s Mistake, A Noble Life, Two Marriages, The Woman’s Kingdom, Hannah, John Halifax, A Brave Lady
............................

Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915)

A life that matched her books to some extent as her husband-to-be (John Maxwell) had a wife and five children before they set up a household together. Mary herself had five children reaching adulthood. Successful writer who was right for the times - adventurous women who acted outside their mold.

Read Lady Audley's Secret, reading The Doctor's Wife. The books are not really in the local library. Jennifer Carnell: The Literary Lives of Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

There are good follow up reading suggestions:

Sandra M. Gilbert: The Madwoman in the Attic
Elaine Showalter: A Literature of their Own
Eve Figes: Sex and Subterfuge
Virginia Woolf: A Room of One's Own
Sally Mitchell: The Fallen Angel - Chastity Class and Women's Reading
Mary Poovey: The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer Chelsey Clark102 9

Probably more of a 3.5, but it ended on a high note for me so I'm rounding up!

Shelley DeWees and I share a deep appreciation for Jane Austen, and we both might have a habit of leaning a little bit too hard on this. (I think something a quarter or a third of the books I read last year were Austen related!) It never hurts to diversify, so I'm glad I dug this book out of storage (unrelated: living in between two countries at the moment, what a faff).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! Absolutely worth picking up if you have an interest in literature anywhere from the late 1700 to early 1900s. It just puts a different spin on publishing and reading culture at the time, giving more context to other works you may be more familiar with, and opens the door for a different way of thinking about the canon. DeWees made excellent choices, each of her subjects are really interesting and had more eventful/controversial lives than say, Austen (and as you will see below, I will defend Austen to the end of the Earth, so these must be really interesting lives).

I've got some mixed feelings about some of the details, though. First of all, I wasn't a massive fan of DeWees' introduction to the book, frankly because of her portrayal of Austen. I could spend a lot of time ranting about this, so I will copy the GR update I made at the time: she describes Austen's books as a "fast passage to a land of delicious fantasy" wherein the heroines have no cares in the world beyond letter writing & getting married, & how she wanted books of "stiffer stuff ... more dramatic density." I don't love this outdated view of Austen, it's boring and inaccurate. Dewees knows better; half of the point of Austen is that the plot isn't necessarily the point, the social commentary running as an invisible character throughout is just as important (if not more so) and she aimed to write real women living real lives. Austen made objectively safer decisions than the women DeWees profiles in this book (both in her writing choices and how she chose to live her life in a society where she had few paths to pick from), that's true, but to say Austen paints pictures of "sugary perfection" is simplifying one writer in order to boost another, which I don't much . Books Jane Austen, the Secret Radical, for example, have proven that the glossy film over the books has flaps that we can see beyond, if we look for them, and that there is a wealth of information underneath. I'll leave it there, or I could rant about this for a long time.

The fact that this book is an introduction to seven additional women writers (writing predominantly in the nineteenth century) is both a strength and a weakness of the work.

The Strength: DeWees successfully uses the time and place of each of these women to not only discuss their works, but also to provide cultural context so that we fully understand why these works are significant. She is really good at adding relevant information in each chapter to enrich that particular writer's story without overloading or making this more history than biography. Recognising why a particular author's work is remarkable has a lot to do with the time they were in and who came before/after them, and DeWees did this really nicely, making me eager to know more about each woman and their works. My to-be-read list in my head is significantly longer, both in books by and about these women, but also DeWees provided a lot of additional texts about the time period in particular that I'm curious about. She covered a lot of ground!

The Weakness: There are holes in the stories. It's kind of inevitable with an introduction, so it's not as though this is a deal breaker, but it was occasionally disappointing. Helen Maria Williams was the only writer featured that I knew anything about, and I knew very little (she was referenced somewhat in Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley which I read last year). Even with my limited knowledge of Williams, I was a bit disappointed that some significant details were left out - for example, Dewees mentioned that Williams was in Switzerland for a time, without explaining why Williams left France - she had been to prison for her writing and left for her safety/to avoid additional charges. DeWees kind of glossed this over with a throwaway comment about Williams occasionally "seeking shelter" without tying it to her time in Switzerland. DeWees completely skips some of the later stages of the French Revolution; she discusses how many advancements France had for women overall, without referencing the fact that actually after the death of Marie Antoinette, there was a significant wave of misogyny and backlash against women in particular. And she doesn't mention that a lot of Williams' contemporaries backpedalled on their Revolutionary zeal after being horrified at the violence and bloodshed (Wollstonecraft being one of them - returning to England when the radical revolution made her both fear for her safety and disassociate from the movement). I realise that each of these chapters were only an introduction, there were ly page limits, but I thought these were all details that were really significant, and that I knew these details from reading a book in which Williams is mentioned only a handful of times. Shouldn't a section of a book dedicated to her be more detailed? It made me wish that the book maybe had been split in two (DeWees mentioned in the intro that there were others she had considered- what about doing 2 books about 8 or 10 women instead of 1 book about 7 women so that there would be more room for each?), because I wondered what I was missing about these other women for whom I had even less context.

That being said, should you read it? YES. This book is a big testament to how the canon needs to be expanded to include forgotten and less represented points of view. I remember learning about sensationalist writing in my undergrad, I don't remember reading Mary Elizabeth Braddon. I remember studying Samuel Taylor Coleridge, I don't remember mention of his daughter Sara, largely disregarded but responsible for his legacy and a brilliant writer in her own way. Expanding our knowledge of these writers only serves to help us better understand the era and EVERY writer within it, in the canon or not. Get on it!!jane-austen-related read-2020 Lissa001,304 25

In the collected works of famous female authors of the late eighteenth through nineteenth century Britain, there are a handful of names that everyone recognizes; Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and George Eliot are the major ones. What happened to the other female writers who emerged during this time? That is what this book aims to explore by providing a biography of seven other women who wrote poetry, novels and plays at a time when women did not usually work. Describing their early life and their entry into the writing career, this book highlights the way these women chafed against the prescribed feminine roles of the time in order to fulfill their passion to write and why they are not read today. This is a well written book and I enjoyed reading about these woman's life and the choices they made. At times, the struggle they all had against the expectations of the time became repetitive as really none wanted to accept the role of married mother. Overall, this was fascinating and I wrote down several of the names so that I can explore their work in the future which was the stated purpose of this book. I received this book from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. netgalley-books1 Amy88 30

I tried to write this review twice, and each time the Goodreads app on my phone ate it. Not cool.
But at least the delay allowed me to gather my thoughts a bit better, so now I shall say this: I wanted to this book more than I did. The premise is pretty great - I always love reading about women in history of whom I hadn't heard before, and finding out more about famous-in-their-time novelists is right up my alley. While I really enjoyed most of what I read, I found the author's style a little off-putting. I get that writing about literature is inherently subjective, and I expect a certain amount of opinionated dissertation, but I would have d to see a clearer line between biographical fact and the author's interpretation of that fact. As other reviewers have pointed out (sometimes I try to refrain from reading other until I've written my own, but this time it was the app's fault!), she seems to buy into some non-historical myths about the 19th century and assume that all women lived the exact same type of life (when in reality, many poorer and uneducated women actually had very different experiences from the seven she highlighted - in some ways more empowered, in others less). 1 Angela304

My feelings on this book are conflicted. On the one hand, DeWees has chosen to highlight an interesting and varied group of women and tells their story in a light, readable way. The book overall is fairly enjoyable. On the other hand, for a piece of feminist non-fiction this book is often strangely anti-woman and does not always seem accurate. For example, Sara Coleridge's birth date is incorrect and many assertions about her childhood and family life are questionable at best. Additionally, DeWees often speaks rather derisively about both women and femininity, at times giving the impression that what makes her chosen seven great is not their literary prowess but the fact that they "are not other girls." Overall, DeWees does an excellent job painting an engaging image of literary Britain, but her feminist lens and overall scholarship leave something to be desired.

1 Ginger Gonzales-Price373 20

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