Femininity, Crime and Self-Defence in Victorian Literature and Society

EMELYNE GODFREY graduated with a Ph.D. in English from Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. A freelance writer and researcher, she writes academic articles, dictionary and encyclopaedia entries and poetry, and gives lectures to societies. She is a regular contributor to History Today and is the Publicity Officer for the H.G. Wells Society.

• List of Figures Acknowledgments A Note on the Text Abbreviations Introduction PART I: 'A DOOR OPEN, A DOOR SHUT' On the Street Danger en Route Behind Closed Doors: Bogey-Husbands in Disguise: Mona Caird's The Wing of Azrael (1889) PART II: FIGHTING FOR EMANCIPATION Elizabeth Robins' The Convert The Last Heroine Left? PART III: THE PRE-WAR FEMALE GAZE 'Where Are You Going To, My Pretty Maid?': Elizabeth Robins on White Slavery Read My Lips Bibliography Index

"Femininity, Crime and Self-Defense is a superb addition to New Woman studies and a potential rich resource for scholars in late-Victorian and Edwardian literary scholarship." - Lena Wanggren, University of Edinburgh, UK "Opening up new areas for research in the fields of women's history, but also detective fiction and urban studies, this book's major contribution to Victorian and Edwardian studies is in unsettling the reader's perceptions, insisting that we look again at what we think we already know." - Carolyn Oulton, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK