A Victorian Quartet: Four forgotten women authors

Liz Thiel, Elaine Lomax, Bridget Carrington, Mary Sebag-Montefiore

Paperback £18.00  
ISBN 978 0 955 2106 5 5                    2008

An understanding of a vanished age, a period close in time, distant in mores, that nevertheless still shapes our identities, attitudes and practices is achieved through the critical evaluation of four women authors writing for children during the Victorian period. This book provides a critical and biographical exploration of the lives and works of four forgotten, once critically acclaimed, popular and influential British female Victorian children's authors - Hesba Stretton: 1832-1911; Mrs. Molesworth: 1839-1921; 'Brenda' (Georgina Castle Smith): 1845-1934; Flora Louisa Shaw: 1852-1929.

Individual studies of each author analyse and evaluate their contribution to children's and family literature and their socio-political influence in the light of contemporary insights into class, religion, gender and society. The individual stance of these women and their common goal of moral improvement reveal the convolutions and contradictions of the Victorian frame of mind. 

Contents Introduction Kimberley Reynolds Writing Other Lives: The Outcast Narratives of Hesba Stretton Elaine Lomax Introduction to Hesba Stretton   Chapter One: ‘I am a woman, and I will act for myself’                                                                                        Chapter Two: ‘... faces of childhood’   Chapter Three: ‘Where women have their rights …’   Chapter Four: Representing others   The Hidden Self: Late Victorian Childhood, Class & Culture in Mrs Molesworth’s Books Mary Sebag-Montefiore Introduction to Mrs Molesworth   Chapter Five: Unhappy Families   Chapter Six: Refractile Relationships: Servants, Nurses and Children   Chapter Seven: Angels at Home   Chapter Eight: The World of Manners   The Woman Known as Brenda Liz Thiel Introduction to Brenda (Georgina Castle Smith)   Chapter Nine: A Doorway to the Past   Chapter Ten: An Engaging Victorian Woman   Chapter Eleven: The Children of the Slums   Chapter Twelve: From a Personal Perspective   Chapter Thirteen: Beyond Preconceptions   ‘Good, and lovely, and true’: A consideration of the contribution & legacy of Flora Shaw’s fiction for children Bridget Carrington Introduction to Flora Shaw   Chapter Fourteen: The Publishing History of Flora Shaw’s Fiction for Children   Chapter Fifteen: The life of Flora Louisa Shaw, Lady Lugard: biography versus accuracy   Chapter Sixteen: Castle Blair: a story of youthful days   Chapter Seventeen: The role of the gentleman in Castle Blair and Hector   Chapter Eighteen: Shaw in the eyes of the critics   Chapter Nineteen: Shaw’s Legacy