Review of Judith A. Roman, Annie Adams Fields: The Spirit of Charles Street (1990); and Norma Clarke, Ambitious Heights: Writing, Friendship, Love – The Jewsbury Sisters, Felicia Hemans and Jane Welsh Carlyle (1990)

Abstract

Finds Roman’s book a competent chronology of Fields’ life, but pedestrian in its approach and cluttered with unnecessary detail. By contrast, Clarke offers insightful revisionist portraits of a number of key Victorian women, especially Jane Welsh Carlyle and Geraldine Jewsbury.