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A review by anisha_inkspill
Outsiders: Five Women Writers Who Changed the World by Lyndall Gordon
4.0
I came across this one by chance, it was listed as a result for Google searches on George Eliot and Virginia Woolf.
This search result caught my attention for having 5 biographies of 5 women writers in one book; two of these are George Eliot and Virginia Woolf. The third, I was surprised to find was Emily Bronte. The remaining two were Mary Shelley and Olive Schreiner (the last one was an author I have not heard before).
What struck me first about this book was it contained the biography on Emily Bronte. Realistically, as most of her work has been destroyed, it’s not possible for a full-length biography of her life to be written mostly based on authentic sources or information. So, I liked how Lyndall Gordon took what there is and wrote the equivalent of a very long lengthy essay about Emily Bronte.
Each biography is this length, each one is detailed and references at least one work from that author. The weakest of the five biographies, unsurprisingly, is Emily Bronte’s, where there were more references to her novel Wuthering Heights, but reading the other four, I am happy with the quality of information, where each one has given me a better understanding of each author; which will be of help when reading their works.
Making this another good find from Google searches.
This search result caught my attention for having 5 biographies of 5 women writers in one book; two of these are George Eliot and Virginia Woolf. The third, I was surprised to find was Emily Bronte. The remaining two were Mary Shelley and Olive Schreiner (the last one was an author I have not heard before).
What struck me first about this book was it contained the biography on Emily Bronte. Realistically, as most of her work has been destroyed, it’s not possible for a full-length biography of her life to be written mostly based on authentic sources or information. So, I liked how Lyndall Gordon took what there is and wrote the equivalent of a very long lengthy essay about Emily Bronte.
Each biography is this length, each one is detailed and references at least one work from that author. The weakest of the five biographies, unsurprisingly, is Emily Bronte’s, where there were more references to her novel Wuthering Heights, but reading the other four, I am happy with the quality of information, where each one has given me a better understanding of each author; which will be of help when reading their works.
Making this another good find from Google searches.