When their father’s death leaves them with no money and a dim future, the Madden sisters, Alice, Virginia, and Monica, must negotiate the gender roles and class constraints of 1890s Victorian London. Rediscover a boldly political title from the early feminist movement with a stunning keepsake edition of The Odd Women from Smith & Taylor Classics. Virginia and Alice have aged out of the possibility of marriage and seemingly the idea of love itself. They find themselves with few prospects and little hope. Remaindered in the marriage equation, these “odd women” face a great deal of scrutiny, stigma, and social pressure—it’s at this time that Rhoda Nunn, childhood friend to the Madden sisters, arrives in London to challenge accepted norms and mores around the role of women in society. Rhoda’s strong feminist passion draws a sharp contrast to the middle-class respectability of the Madden sisters’ upbring, as the sisters watch a new world emerge around them. Gissing’s The Odd Women captures the absurdity, brutality, and even comedy of Victorian attitudes around the brilliant women who dared to be odd by conceiving of their role in society beyond their value as wives. Featuring a conversational afterword from writers Merve Emre and Adam Dalva.
