Bücher veröffentlicht von Victorian Secrets

Ghost stories have always provided a popular source of entertainment, thrilling readers with tales of remote gothic castles and dark dungeons. In the nineteenth century, authors made the genre even scarier by bringing the uncanny within the sanctity of the middle-class home. Women writers especially saw the ghost story as an empowering form, using it to make subversive arguments about gender, class, sexuality, race, and money. In this electrifying collection, Melissa Edmundson showcases ten authors who led lives that challenged Victorian notions of how women should behave and brought those transgressive ideas into their fiction.This collection includes:THE FOUR-FIFTEEN EXPRESS Amelia B. EdwardsSINCE I DIED Elizabeth Stuart PhelpsTHE SHADOW IN THE CORNER Mary Elizabeth BraddonTHE GHOST AT THE RATH Rosa MulhollandFROM THE DEAD Edith NesbitIN THE SÉANCE ROOM Lettice GalbraithTHE HOUSE WHICH WAS RENT FREE G. M. RobinsTHE LOST GHOST Mary E. WilkinsTHE STRIDING PLACE Gertrude AthertonTHE PRAYER Violet Hunt

The spirited memoir of Harvey Teasdale (1817-1904) tells the story of a wilful child who became a stage-struck youth before achieving success with his celebrated acrobatic performances in a monkey costume in the theatres of Yorkshire. Imprisoned for assaulting his wife, he experienced a religious conversion and travelled around Yorkshire as an itinerant preacher, using his actor's skills to promote Methodism as vigorously as he once promoted himself. Teasdale's highly expressive and dramatic autobiography is a rare example of the voice of a working-class Victorian performer; it also gives fascinating glimpses of life in nineteenth-century Sheffield and its schools, factories, theatres and public houses.This edition includes: critical introduction, explanatory notes and background material.

First published in 1888, Robert Elsmere was probably the biggest-selling novel of the nineteenth century. Inspired by the religious crises of her father, Mary Augusta Ward tells the story of an Oxford clergyman who begins to doubt the doctrines of the Anglican church after he encounters the work of German rationalists. Rather than becoming an atheist, Elsmere pursues the idea of "constructive liberalism," stressing the importance of social work among the poor and uneducated. The Times called it "a clever attack upon revealed religion", while William Gladstone's copy was annotated with objections to Ward's heterodoxy. In the Victorian age, nothing was more likely to generate publicity than religious controversy, and Robert Elsmere became a runaway success. More than one million copies were sold, generating around £4,000 in royalties, which would today put Ward in the millionaire author bracket. Her earnings would have been higher if it weren't for the absence of international copyright laws when Robert Elsmere was first published. Many cheap US editions were hurriedly produced to cash in on its success. Some were sold as loss leaders for just 4 cents, and other copies were given away free with every cake of Maine's Balsam Fir Soap, conveying the idea that cleanliness was next to godliness. Out of print for twenty-five years, this new edition brings Ward's publishing phenomenon to a new audience. The text is completely reset, and the edition includes: critical introduction by Miriam Elizabeth Burstein explanatory notes extracts from the preface to the Westmoreland edition of Robert Elsmere excerpts from Gladstone's famous review of Robert Elsmere extracts from Ward's The History of David Grieve extract from Ward's The Case of Richard Meynell

Written when the New Woman novel was at the height of its popularity, Helbeck of Bannisdale depicts the tension between a heroine's desire for independence and her love for a man who prefers wifely submission. After her father's death, Laura Fountain struggles with the legacy of his agnosticism and her growing affection for Catholic ascetic Alan Helbeck. She must decide whether love can triumph over religious scruples. Mary Ward's powerful novel captures the drama and conflict of the late nineteenth-century debates surrounding faith, doubt, and a woman's place in society.This scholarly edition, edited by Beth Sutton-Ramspeck, includes: Critical introduction Author biography Select bibliography Ward's introduction to the Westmoreland Edition Dr James Begg's 'The Blight of Popery' Extract from Thomas Henry Huxley's 'Agnosticism and Christianity' Extract from Alys Whithall Pearsall Smith's 'A Reply from the Daughters' Glossary of regional terms, words and phrases used in the text

First published in 1907 The Convert was based on Elizabeth Robins' hugely successful play, Votes for Women! which advocated militancy as the only means of achieving female suffrage. The story centres on Vida Levering, a society beauty who turns personal tragedy into political triumph by throwing her considerable intellect and energy behind the campaign. She also uses a guilty secret to gain the support of her ex-lover, the rising Tory politician Geoffrey Stonor. In this powerful novel, Robins shows the militants as noble women who care passionately about their cause, challenging the popular myth of bitter troublemakers. Many of the scenes are taken directly from actual suffrage meetings, including verbatim quotes from the hostile men who turned out to heckle them and rousing speeches by the suffragettes who stood up for their principles, at great personal risk. The Convert blends history, fiction and propaganda to intoxicating effect and is both funny and poignant. The compelling characters leap off the page and it's impossible not to be roused by their spirit and integrity. This new edition includes: * Introduction * Biography of Elizabeth Robins * Chronology of events in the suffrage campaign * Explanatory footnotes * Extensive bibliography * Contemporary reviews of The Convert and Votes for Women!

A Mummer's Wife tells the story of Kate Ede, a bored Midlands housewife unhappily married to an asthmatic draper. When a handsome travelling actor comes to lodge with her family, she succumbs to temptation, with disastrous consequences. This scholarly edition includes a critical introduction, author biography, explanatory footnotes, and a wealth of contextual material.