Covers four texts from the 1890s that helped to crystallize the idea of the 'New Woman' during a period where the role of women was increasingly debated and challenged, not least due to the growth of the suffrage movement.

By considering both male and female friendships, this book uncovers parallels between them in novels and poetry by authors such as Dickens, Tennyson, Disraeli and Braddon. It also examines conduct manuals, periodicals, and religious treatises, tracing developments from mid-century to the fin de siecle, when romance first came under serious attack.

The Letter Game is preoccupied with memory, place and the bizarre social codes that define us.The material world is constructed as a series of fragments; the poems are inflected by a series of connections and disruptions that would ultimately lead to autism diagnosis.

Concentrating on a period of significant social and political change and exploring both canonical and newly rediscovered texts, this book critically assess the changing culture of the late-Victorian period as represented by a range of women writers through a range of essays by leading academics in the field and cutting-edge work by newer scholars.