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About Women of Wonder - The Gentler Sex: Celebrate the true pioneers of female literature

Let’s be clear. We are all equal under the law. However, even in these more modern times that is not an absolute and still remains a distant ambition for many. In the days when Britain ruled the waves and bestrode the world as its policeman and plunderer in chief it also subjugated half of its own people to second class status. Women were chattel and property. There were some exceptions based on wealth and birthright but for the overwhelming majority your lot was to fall in with the rules and do as you were told. Many did. But whilst male society sought to place obstacles in the path to equality, it could not deny their literary talents, which many times they circumvented by using male pseudonyms. However, the soaring sales of magazines and periodicals during the Victorian Age meant they had voracious appetites for literature, whatever the sex of its gender. Dozens of authors appeared to fill the need. Narratives had new ideas. Characters were emboldened by societal changes and the female voice taking responsibility. The women included here are talents that dazzle. Put them up against anyone and they rise to the top. Whether they remain with an avid readership today or faded to obscurity with the passing of the times their quality remains undimmed. They still speak to us with a clear and unique voice. In this volume women explore the tender and caring side of their nature in stories that remind us all that no matter what the problem is, a solution with their words and pens can be both practical and illuminating. 1 - Women of Wonder - The Gentler Sex - An Introduction 2 - The Cure by Colette 3 - Lappin and Lapinova by Virginia Woolf 4 - Sister Josepha by Alice Dunbar Nelson 5 - In Affection and Esteem by Mary Webb 6 - Her Advice by Elinor Glyn 7 - His Smile by Susan Glaspell 8 - A Slip of the Pen by Amy Levy 9 - The Telegram by Violet Hunt 10 - Under The Electrics by Clotilde Graves writing as Richard Dehan 11 - The Way the World Is by Zona Gale 12 - An Idyll of London by Beatrice Harraden 13 - The Night Before Thanksgiving by Sarah Orne Jewett