Mrs. Henry Wood

Mrs. Henry [Ellen] Wood [née Ellen Strand Price, 1814-87], was the author of "East Lynne" (1861) - the enormously successful and sensational mid-Victorian bestseller, and many others. "East Lynne" sold more than 1 million copies in her lifetime. She was such a prolific novelist who enjoyed literary success and fame during her life but she dwindled to a minor literary figure in the following century as a consequence of fin-de-siècle changing literary tastes. Yet, in recent years, Wood has become the object of renewed scholarly interest even if attention is still mostly paid to "East Lynne". This new book examines Wood's career and works. As Mariaconcetta Costantini now shows, what is needed is a wider exploration of her oeuvre as well as a reflection on some elusive aspects of her professional figure. Wood shunned publicity and led a quiet family life despite the important role she played in the Victorian print industry. Yet - in ways similar to her life - her oeuvre still challenges interpretation as it perplexingly combines sensationalism with domestic ideals. By reading Wood through the lens of feminist theory, this work sheds new light onto relevant aspects of her career and personality. The book is devoted to the complexities of her fiction. It ascertains the extent to which her generic experiments and characterization convey a subtle critique of gender roles intertwined with seemingly reassuring images of domesticity.