The Odd Women - by George Gissing

George Gissing is certainly not a household name.  I saw his novel, The Odd Women (£0.70 UK Edition) (EUR 0,99 Deutsch edition) on a list of neglected books.  Since I have not read it, I have to reach out to Wikipedia for a description.  “In advance of their time, [Gissing's novels] variously deal with the growing commercialism of the literary market, religious charlatanism, and the situation of emancipated women in a male-dominated society.  This novel is the one about emancipated women.”

Also from Wikipedia: “The novel's title is derived ostensibly from the notion that there was an excess of one million women over men in Victorian England. This meant there were "odd" women left over at the end of the equation when the other men and women had paired off in marriage. A cross-section of women dealing with this problem are described in the book and it can be inferred that their lifestyles also sets them apart as odd in the sense of strange.”

The first paragraph intrigued me . . .

"'So to-morrow, Alice,' said Dr. Madden, as he walked with his eldest daughter on the coast-downs by Clevedon, 'I shall take steps for insuring my life for a thousand pounds.'

It was the outcome of a long and intimate conversation. Alice Madden, aged nineteen, a plain, shy, gentle-mannered girl, short of stature, and in movement something less than graceful, wore a pleased look as she glanced at her father's face and then turned her eyes across the blue channel to the Welsh hills. She was flattered by the confidence reposed in her, for Dr. Madden, reticent by nature, had never been known to speak in the domestic circle about his pecuniary affairs."

 So this is now in my Kindle archive, and I recommend it to you too!

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