"The White Ladies of Worcester" is an inspiring romantic story of a nun who enters a convent thinking her lover is dead and a knight who was told his lady had married another. As the nuns in the Nunnery of the White Ladies return from Vespers through the underground passage into the cloisters, an old lay-sister Mary Antony counts them every time by dropping one pea for each nun from her hand into a bag. However, one evening her count turns out differently – the nuns pass, all the peas drop into the bag, and then one more nun passes by, making the old lady think that there might be an intruder into the convent…

This collection examines the dynamic experimentation of contemporary women writers from North America, Australia, and the UK. Blurring the dichotomies of the popular and the literary, the fictional and the factual, the essays assembled here offer new approaches to reading contemporary women fiction writers' reconfigurations of history.

“Alice is cast in the mold of a character created by an earlier Alcott, the passionate and spunky Jo March. A refreshingly old-fashioned heroine, she makes THE DARING LADIES OF LOWELL appealing” --The New York Times Book Review “Offers up a compelling slice of both feminist and Industrial Age history”--Christian Science Monitor From the New York Times bestselling author of THE DRESSMAKER comes a moving historical novel about a bold young woman drawn to the looms of Lowell, Massachusetts--and to the one man with whom she has no business falling in love. Eager to escape life on her family’s farm, Alice Barrow moves to Lowell in 1832 and throws herself into the hard work demanded of “the mill girls.” In spite of the long hours, she discovers a vibrant new life and a true friend—a saucy, strong-willed girl name Lovey Cornell. But conditions at the factory become increasingly dangerous, and Alice finds the courage to represent the workers and their grievances. Although mill owner, Hiram Fiske, pays no heed, Alice attracts the attention of his eldest son, the handsome and reserved Samuel Fiske. Their mutual attraction is intense, tempting Alice to dream of a different future for herself. This dream is shattered when Lovey is found strangled to death. A sensational trial follows, bringing all the unrest that’s brewing to the surface. Alice finds herself torn between her commitment to the girls in the mill and her blossoming relationship with Samuel. Based on the actual murder of a mill girl and the subsequent trial in 1833, THE DARING LADIES OF LOWELL brilliantly captures a transitional moment in America’s history while also exploring the complex nature of love, loyalty, and the enduring power of friendship.

"The White Ladies of Worcester" is an inspiring romantic story of a nun who enters a convent thinking her lover is dead and a knight who was told his lady had married another. As the nuns in the Nunnery of the White Ladies return from Vespers through the underground passage into the cloisters, an old lay-sister Mary Antony counts them every time by dropping one pea for each nun from her hand into a bag. However, one evening her count turns out differently – the nuns pass, all the peas drop into the bag, and then one more nun passes by, making the old lady think that there might be an intruder into the convent…