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The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives In Georgian England (2003)

The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives in Georgian England (2003)

Book Info

Rating
3.8 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0300102224 (ISBN13: 9780300102222)
Language
English
Publisher
yale university press

About book The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives In Georgian England (2003)

This book is ground-breaking research into the lives of women of the gentry, the same social class as that of Jane Austen. if you want to know what skills and responsibilities Elizabeth and Jane and Mrs Bennett, etc., would have to run a household, this is the book that will tell you and tell you more, as well. Vickery has used letters, diaries, and account books of more than 100 women in northern counties that show women could be very well educated; thrifty consumers; and engaged in an extensive social life in the provinces and in London and other fashionable resorts, attending day-time lectures as well as balls. i was intrigued by the debating societies women set up, as well run by the women as was Almacks, where they debated such questions as whether the marriage ceremony's words "to obey" their husbands had an exemptions (and for some of these very feisty women I bet there were exemptions). illustrated. Highly recommended, but this is a well-researched book and not "pop" reading.

Found this book on my sister's bookshelf and she said it was good so I've spent the last week reading it. It was good but as others have noted, it is not a fast read. Using various papers (mostly diaries and letters) of gentlewomen who lived in the English counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire from approximately 1720-1820, this is a scholarly work (and definitely has the tiny print to prove it!). These women come from the upper or actually middle classes of the time. They aren't the nobility but they are either from families of landowners or the professions or the clergy as well as the well off working class (who often became land owners). Although usually only schooled at home, the women were literate. This book gives us an entrance into their lives, both privately and publicly and it was interesting.

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Really interesting and thorough, if also dense, examination of "genteel" women's lives in the eighteenth century: courtship, marriage, separation, childbirth, public diversion, housekeeping, education, business, are all covered. This edition has some rather unaccountable typographical problems, mostly to do with a lack of commas (or commas where there should be semicolons), which makes it difficult to read, but if you're into social history or the eighteenth century at all--literarily as well as historically--it's well worth it.
—Eleanor

This is a spectacular book of historical research into the lives of middle class Georgian women. Taking a sample of women in the Lancashire area, it uses letters, diaries, accounts and pocketbooks to build a picture of genteel lives in which marriage was the most dangerous and crucial decision faced in life. A mix of sad and satisfying lives are documented, along with the kinds of insights and facts that a novelist could not imagine (and the illustrations are also fascinating and beautiful). I loved it and use it as a regular reference book. The bibliography and footnotes are also excellent, leading to yet more delights and the chance to explore some wonderful primary sources.
—Martine Bailey

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