The Odd Women Illustrated

The Odd Women is an 1893 novel by the English novelist George Gissing. Its themes are the role of women in society, marriage, morals and the early feminist movementas an early take on feminism. Not always the best narratively, there are lengthy dialectic passages which tend to abstraction rather than being incarnated in the characters, but an insight into our grandmothers' and great-grandmothers' times. And a powerful lesson, still to be learnt, from the main character. This edition of George Gissing's interesting novel about the role of women in late Victorian England appears to have be co-authored by one David Own Nunes. His contribution seems to have been restricted to converting the book into American English and adding at least one typo to virtually every page, which greatly reduces the pleasure of reading. I soon gave up trying to correct the many mistakes. It made me wonder whether they are ever corrected. Neither "The Odd Women' nor "New Grub Street" are great novels, but they are both fascinating studies of a society undergoing rapid change.The precariousness of lower middle class life, when gentility could easily descend into abject poverty is vividly displayed. It was a time when social conventions, particularly with regard to the role of women, were challenged and for which Gissing had a keen eye.