Fiction, Fiction Subjects

The Odd Women

Name: The Odd Women
Author: George Gissing
ISBN: 9780140433791

by George Gissing, Elaine Showalter

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Overview

"The impoverished Madden sisters are ill-equipped to support themselves when their father dies, and Monica sees her only chance of escape from a life of grinding misery in marriage. When she is befriended by two independent women, who strive to educate single women to take control of their destinies, the choices that lie ahead for all of them are starkly defined." The Odd Women is a dramatic exploration of the dilemmas facing the single woman at the turn of the century. Set in grimy, fog-ridden London, the novel paints a vivid portrait of the hardships and inequalities in and outside marriage, and of a society whose values are in flux.

Synopsis

"[Gissing] achieved one of the very few novels in English that can be compared with those of the French naturalists who were his contemporaries." "Walter Allen, The English Novel

About the Author, George Gissing

Elaine Showalter is the author of the groundbreaking A Literature of Their Own and editor of Little Women for Penguin Classics.

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Editorials

The Gissing Journal

"Broadview’s enterprise is especially welcome in the case of The Odd Women, Gissing’s second most commonly studied novel. [This edition] deserves to become the text of choice for teachers—especially given its modest price."