Evelyn Sharp

This is the first biography of a remarkable writer and incorrigible rebel. Evelyn Sharp's story encapsulates the shifts in opportunities for talented Victorian women who survived into the mid-twentieth century. She was born into a privileged family in 1869 and became a very popular writer of schoolgirl fiction. Extremely versatile, she also produced fairy tales alongside stories for the infamous 'Yellow Book'. A Manchester Guardian journalist for over four decades, Evelyn Sharp became the first regular contributor to its iconic Women's Page. Before and during the First World War she was a leading suffragette, editing the newspaper, 'Votes for Women'. This biography draws on Evelyn Sharp's publications, as well as letter and diaries vividly describing experiences such as famine relief in Soviet Russia and daily life in wartime Kensington for and elderly woman. It will be of interest to gender and social historians as well as to those interested in children's and women's literature.

ISBN 0719080142   Pages 304 ISBN13 9780719080142 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Manchester University Press   Weight (grammes) 499 Imprint Manchester University Press   Published in Manchester Format Hardback   Height (mm) 216 Publication date 01 Apr 2009   Width (mm) 138 DEWEY 828.91209   Spine width (mm) 28 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Tertiary education, Professional / Scholarly

		List of illustrations
		Evelyn Sharp's life
		Introducing the Rebel Woman		1
1		From Evie to Becky Sharp		6
2		Writing for the young		23
3		Fellow traveller: meeting Henry Nevinson		36
4		Words in Deed: women's suffrage		52
5		Working with war		76
6		The relief of peace: in Weimar Germany		88
7		Irish Rebels		111
8		Somewhere in Russia: fiction and famine		120
9		Still rebelling: women, writing and politics in the 1920s		143
10		The Child Grows Up: configuring childhood in the interwar years		159
11		Defying time and the times		179
12		War and widowhood: Chipping Campden and Kensington		204
Appendix 1		Evelyn Sharp's major publications		227
Appendix 2		The Cheap Holiday: a short story by Evelyn Sharp		230
		Notes		233
		Index		268

This is a fascinating account of a forgotten feminist. Evelyn Sharp was an 1890s 'new woman' who became a militant suffragette before 1914 and became renowned both as a journalist and children's writer. Angela V. John's lucid and scholarly biography brings her back into view, illuminating the social and political history of her era while skilfully weaving into the story Sharp's long, secret love affair with the Guardian journalist she eventually married - Henry Nevinson. Professor Shelia Rowbotham

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