In 1880 the concept of girlhood as a separate stage of existence was barely present. But in the decades that followed, due in part to changes in the legal definition of childhood, a new cultural category was inscribed in a flood of popular books and magazines. Indeed, by the turn of the century working-class and middle-class girls were beginning to control enough of their own time and pocket money that publishing for them was a lucrative business.

This widely acclaimed book has been described by History Today as a 'landmark in the study of the women's movement'. It is the only comprehensive reference work to bring together in one volume the wealth of information available on the women's movement. Drawing on national and local archival sources, the book contains over 400 biographical entries and more than 800 entries on societies in England, Scotland and Wales. Easily accessible and rigorously cross-referenced, this invaluable resource covers not only the political developments of the campaign but provides insight into its cultural context, listing novels, plays and films.

The Lady on the Drawingroom Floor with Selected Poetry and Prose, by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, seeks to reclaim Coleridge’s reputation as a novelist, poet, critic, and educator by featuring familiar works alongside unpublished or out-of-print works. This collection includes a substantial introduction to Coleridge, analyzing her life and legacy; the whole of Coleridge’s final published novel; and a selection of important poems, short stories, essays, and letters. This discussion of her career invites the reader to consider her poetry and other writing alongside the novel that early critics called her most reflective and mature. In restoring the integrity of Coleridge’s literary canon, this volume offers new ways of understanding the complexities of an innovative Victorian writer who deserves to be better known and featured more prominently in anthologies and college courses. This collection is intended to introduce scholars, undergraduate and graduate students, and the general reading public to Coleridge’s specific and considerable contributions to late-Victorian literature.

With the rise of women's suffrage, challenges to marriage and divorce laws, and expanding opportunities for education and employment for women, the early years of the twentieth century were a time of social revolution. Examining British novels written in 1890-1914, Jane Eldridge Miller demonstrates how these social, legal, and economic changes rendered the traditional narratives of romantic desire and marital closure inadequate, forcing Edwardian novelists to counter the limitations and ideological implications of those narratives with innovative strategies. The original and provocative novels that resulted depict the experiences of modern women with unprecedented variety, specificity, and frankness. Rebel Women is a major re-evaluation of Edwardian fiction and a significant contribution to literary history and criticism. "Miller's is the best account we have, not only of Edwardian women novelists, but of early 20th-century women novelists; the measure of her achievement is that the distinction no longer seems workable." —David Trotter, The London Review of Books