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A review by navabrown
A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa
3.0
I greatly appreciated the opportunity to read about the lives of several female authors in a single volume. Likewise, a focus on friendship and it's ability to inspire and direct one's literary (or any!) pursuits is something in which I am continually returning to as a concept. This is an easy, fun read, especially for a biographical work.
However, as an academic, I couldn't help feeling the "itch" from lack of direct quotes, cited source material, footnotes, etc. As a result, during the entire reading, I had a nagging sense that much was assumed and implied that couldn't actually be substantiated. Though it is clear that the authors did their research from what materials are available, much still must have been guess work. And therefore, their premise that these friendships greatly influenced the writing of other authors, is flimsy at best for several of their subjects.
Still, I would recommend reading A Secret Sisterhood like you would watch a dramatized retelling of Jane Austen or Brontë, et al: as enjoyable but with a grain of salt.
However, as an academic, I couldn't help feeling the "itch" from lack of direct quotes, cited source material, footnotes, etc. As a result, during the entire reading, I had a nagging sense that much was assumed and implied that couldn't actually be substantiated. Though it is clear that the authors did their research from what materials are available, much still must have been guess work. And therefore, their premise that these friendships greatly influenced the writing of other authors, is flimsy at best for several of their subjects.
Still, I would recommend reading A Secret Sisterhood like you would watch a dramatized retelling of Jane Austen or Brontë, et al: as enjoyable but with a grain of salt.