Jane and Dorothy

October 16, 2017
Veevers (Bellfield Hall) writes an intelligent and sometimes searing portrait of two pivotal women in English literature, near contemporaries Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth. The book focuses on how their spinster status impacted their creative lives at a time of limited options for women. Austen’s writing slowed for years as her dependent status forced her to move against her will, first to Bath, then to wander unsettled with her mother and sister Cassandra until the offer of her brother’s cottage as a place to live saved the day. Wordsworth likewise depended on her famous brother and subordinated her own literary endeavors, including a travelogue of Scotland she’d hoped to publish, to William’s needs, copying his poems and providing emotional support. Luckily for Austen, she enjoyed a close relationship with Cassandra, who enabled her work; Wordsworth, however, often sacrificed her time and energy to William. Veevers’s writing flows effortlessly and sustains interest by moving back and forth between the two women. Most commendable is the way she depicts the insecure and sometimes demeaning reality of their lives—leaving readers to question what more these individuals might have produced in a society less weighted against them.

January 15, 2018
An in-depth dual biography of two accomplished spinsters who never met.British author Veevers works for the Wordsworth Trust and, as Anna Dean, writes popular historical mysteries featuring Dido Kent as a savvy detective in Georgian England (A Place of Confinement, 2012, etc.). In this entertaining biography, written in an intimate, personal style, the author employs a chronological narrative to explore the different ways in which these two women responded to the obstacles presented by Georgian society. They "were not simply products of their time. They made choices in their lives, and it was those choices which defined them." Veevers uses Austen's Dashwood sisters from Sense and Sensibility as markers: Jane (1775-1817) was more "cautious" and sensible like Elinor, while Dorothy (1717-1855), with her eagerness in everything, sorrows or joys, is "impetuous" like Marianne. Dorothy was an orphan who was separated from her brothers early on, while Jane's life was more stable, allowing her to spend more time with her much-loved brothers. Jane had more formal education, but they were both intelligent, well-read, and loved to write. Jane had her novels, Dorothy her letters, poetry, and journals. The Austen family members were traditional Anglicans; Dorothy lived in more freethinking households. In an age when marriage was seen as a must for women, Jane, although she had her suitors, was never in love. Dorothy, Veevers writes, believed it "would be 'absurd' for her to think of marriage." When her beloved poet-brother William married Mary Hutchinson in 1802, they all lived together in Dove Cottage. William "attempted to bind her to him more firmly than ever." Veevers is adamant that there is "nothing to suggest that [Dorothy's love for him] was--at its beginning--a sexual attraction." Their close friend Thomas De Quincey was quick to deny it, as well. William was the "emotional centre" of Dorothy's world.A well-researched, wonderfully told story of two women of their times.

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February 15, 2018

Veevers, who works for the Wordsworth Trust, anchors her admirably researched, sensitive study of authors Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth in an allusion to two of Austen's best-loved heroines, the Dashwood sisters of Sense and Sensibility. By referring back to Elinor and Marianne throughout this work, Veevers provides a cultural shorthand that she suggests--as does Austen in that novel--is never as simple as it first may seem. Readers familiar with Austen will easily fall in love with Wordsworth as a character in this storied version of the women's lives, and scholars will discover new ways of looking at both women's relationships with their families. Veevers illuminates the interpenetration among control, self-preservation, sensitivity, social awkwardness, and loyalty in their lives, and sheds light on specific passages from their letters that, like Lucy Worsley's recent Jane Austen at Home, complicates some deep assumptions readers have about these women. As Veevers notes, we discover women who "made choices about their lives [that] defined them." VERDICT Striking a balance between specialized knowledge and general interest, this will be a great fit for Austin fans who want to delve deeper into her life or expand their views on women's roles during the Regency period.--Emily Bowles, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2018
Proving yet again that life imitates art, Veevers finds in Dorothy Wordsworth and Jane Austen real-life incarnations of the fictional Dashwood sistersMarianne and Elinorthe contrasting protagonists of Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Like Marianne, Wordsworth rode the waves of her emotions. Like Elinor, Austen subjected feelingsher own and others'to intelligent scrutiny. Readers see how this pronounced difference in temperament translates into diverging life trajectories as these two talented women cope with financial and social insecurity in a Georgian England offering few openings for a single woman's literary ambitions. Veevers captures both the impulsive emotionalism that impels Wordsworth to devote herself to her brother in his quest for poetic fame, and the resilient tough-mindedness guiding Austen into a brilliant solo career as a subtle novelist. By exploring the gap separating Wordsworth's real but limited achievement in her nature journals and Austen's towering accomplishment in her fine-grained novels, Veevers gauges the ultimate consequences of the two women's pivotal life choices. Readers do, however, mark a partial convergence, as Wordsworth learns restraint by bearing the burden of her brother's household, while Austen gains new appreciation for the demands of the heart by resisting familial pressures to accept a loveless marriage. A singularly fruitful comparative biography.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)