The first part of the narrative passes quickly, and just as it comes to a climax we pass to the second part: Helen’s diary of her life before moving to Wildfell Hall. I found this part of the story most engrossing. Helen describes her courtship and marriage to Arthur Huntingdon. We see their first meetings, their mutual attraction, her Aunt’s portentous warnings, their marriage, and the birth of their son. Then things get interesting.

At the end of her life, age 40, Margaret Fuller had earned the reputation of being one of the most radical and intellectual persons in the English-speaking world. Her book, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, and her front page reviews and articles in Horace Greeley’s New York Daily Tribune were read by all Americans who wished to keep up with what was most current. Yet Fuller remains invisible in textbooks today.

Happy Holidays, Girlebookers. If you are of the Christmas celebrating sort, may I point out we have two free Christmas-themed ebooks for your reading pleasure.
The Romance of the Christmas Card by Kate Douglas Wiggin spans not one but two Christmases and tells of a minister’s wife who is inspired by a real-life scene to design [...]

Written by Fanny Burney in the late 1700s, many of the novel’s social customs will seem illogical and random. But even for it’s differences, one can’t help seeing similarities between society of then and now. There is love, lust, outrage, sweetness, jealousy, and pride. Burney created a palate of diverse characters and relished in throwing them together in a mix of discord and harmony. It is said Jane Austen read Burney’s novels as a young one–I can see where Austen drew her inspiration for colorful character interactions.

I was highly entertained by search engine term responses by Lit Connection and Adventures in Reading. Since then, I’ve been wanting to do a Girlebooks edition of this theme, so I’ve been watching the search engine terms roll in for the past couple of months. Here are my responses to 3 search terms that either [...]

When I came across the following review of The Lamplighter from Erica Bauermeister’s 500 Great Books by Women, I knew I had to include this ebook on the site. The Lamplighter may be downloaded for free from our ebook catalog.
Second only in sales to Uncle Tom’s Cabin during the nineteenth century, The Lamplighter is almost [...]

Very few children’s books start with a Cholera epidemic. This makes me wonder whether public outcry would ensue if The Secret Garden were released today instead of 99 years ago. Contemporary publishers would recoil at the very idea of publishing a book whose first chapter describes the death of a young girl’s entire family in India, leaving only herself and a few servants. The Secret Garden was one of the most enchanting books that I read as a child. I recently purchased and read this book again. I was pleased to note that for an adult, The Secret Garden was just as enchanting.

As in Frankenstein Mary Shelley shows herself as a sci-fi pioneer and visionary with enough political savvy to know that the strife between Christian and Muslim would not be resolved even two hundred years into the future.