Destined to be Wives: The Sisters of Beatrice Webb - Softcover

Caine, Barbara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019282158X ISBN 13: 9780192821584

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1988

Synopsis

Exploring the lives of Beatrice Webb and her eight sisters, this volume presents a vivid picture of the experiences of a group of upper middle class women in England at the turn of the century. Barbara Caine juxtaposes the normal pattern of the Potters' lives with some of the extraordinary conflicts and tragedies that took place behind the respectable facade of traditional Victorian and Edwardian family life. Highlighting some of these tensions and pressures--including the suicide of one sister, the death of another probably induced by the cocaine she took after a family breakdown, and the shock the older sisters experienced as a result of their younger sister's sexual promiscuity--Caine demonstrates how they came together, in times of crisis, as a support network for one another. They recognized that the "sisterhood" provided the only security in a society which made women socially, legally, and economically subordinate to men.
Making full use of the vast collection of letters and diaries left by the Potters, Caine enhances our understanding of Beatrice Webb herself, as we see her through the eyes of her family, and through her reactions to their trials and tribulations. Contributing greatly to the social history of Victorian and early Edwardian England, Destined to be Wives offers many invaluable insights into the problems and sufferings that women faced during this period.

About this title

About the Author:

About the Author:
Barbara Caine is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Sydney and author of many articles on Beatrice Webb, feminism, suffrage, and the 19th-century English women's movement.

Review:

"[T]he best and most unbiased kind of women's history...[S]tylishly written and imaginative study."--The Times Literary Supplement

"The biographical approach of Caine's study, tracing the lives of one group of sisters, is a novel and successful method of historical investigation within the field of women's history."--Philippa Levine, Australian Feminist Studies

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 019282158X
• ISBN 13: 9780192821584
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288