Book description
If a nineteenth century lady had neither a husband to support her nor
money of her own, almost her only recourse was to live in someone else's
household and educate their children - in particular, their daughters.
Marooned within the confines of other people's lives, neither servants
nor family members, governesses occupied an uncomfortable social limbo.
And being poor and insignificant, their papers were mostly lost. But a
few journals and letters have come down to us, giving a vivid record of
what it was to be a lone professional woman at a time when such a
creature officially did not exist. Ruth Brandon has written several
history books, including, among others, THE SPIRITUALISTS, THE DOLLAR
PRINCESSES and THE NEW WOMEN AND THE OLD MEN, as well as biographies of
Houdini and the chef Alexis Soyer. She graduated from Girton College,
Cambridge, and lives in London.
