The Criminal Conversation of Mrs. Norton: Victorian England's "Scandal of the Century" and the Fallen Socialite Who Changed Women's Lives Forever - Hardcover

Atkinson Dr, Diane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1613748809 ISBN 13: 9781613748800

Publisher: Chicago Review Press, 2013

Synopsis

Westminster, London, June 22, 1836. Crowds are gathering at the Court of Common Pleas. On trial is Caroline Sheridan Norton, a beautiful and clever young woman who had been maneuvered into marrying the Honorable George Norton when she was just nineteen. Ten years older, he is a dull, violent, and controlling lawyer, but Caroline is determined not to be a traditional wife. By her early twenties, Caroline has become a respected poet and songwriter, clever mimic, and outrageous flirt. Her beauty and wit attract many male admirers, including the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. After years of simmering jealousy, George Norton accuses Caroline and the Prime Minister of criminal conversation (adultery) precipitating Victorian England s scandal of the century.

In Westminster Hall that day is a young Charles Dickens, who would, just a few months later, fictionalize events as "Bardell v. Pickwick" in "The Pickwick Papers." After a trial lasting twelve hours, the jury s not guilty verdict is immediate, unanimous, and sensational. George is a laughingstock. Angry and humiliated he cuts Caroline off, as was his right under the law, refuses to let her see their three sons, seizes her manuscripts and letters, her clothes and jewels, and leaves her destitute. Knowing she can not change her brutish husband s mind, Caroline resolves to change the law.

Steeped in archival research that draws on more than 1,500 of Caroline s personal letters, "The Criminal Conversation of Mrs. Norton" is the extraordinary story of one woman s fight for the rights of women everywhere. For the next thirty years Caroline campaigned for women and battled male-dominated Victorian society, helping to write the Infant Custody Act (1839), and influenced the Matrimonial Causes (Divorce) Act (1857) and the Married Women s Property Act (1870), which gave women a separate legal identity for the first time."

About this title

Product Description:

A forgotten heroine of the women's rights movement is rescued from obscurity in thisbiography of Caroline Norton, a respected poet, songwriter, and socialite whose 1836 adultery trial rocked Victorian England. When George Norton accused his wife of having an affair with the British Prime Minister he sparked what was considered "the scandal of the century." Though she was declared innocent, the humiliated Norton locked Caroline out of their home, seized her manuscripts, letters, clothes, jewels, and every penny of her earnings, and refused to let her see their three sons. This detailed account of the Norton "criminal conversation" trial sheds vivid light on the desperate position of women in male-dominated Victorian society and chronicles Caroline's lifelong campaign to establish legal rights for married and divorced women, allowing them to inherit property, take court action on their own behalf, and in effect establishing them for the first time as full-fledged human beings before the law. Figuring into this fascinating story are Caroline's close friend and confidante Mary Shelley, longtime admirer Charles Dickens, the circle of poets including Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, Queen Victoria, and other literary and royal heavyweights of the day.

Review:

"It is a brave book, written with verve and veracity." --"The Times"

"Expertly researched and finely written. . . . Mrs Norton's journey from abused wife to passionate reformer is as moving as it is fascinating, and Atkinson's richly detailed work does her subject the justice she deserves." --"BBC History Magazine"

"An impressive biography" and "a robust portrait...of a woman who refused to be circumscribed by the restrictive social mores and legal inequities of her time and place in history." --"Booklist"

"Well-researched" and "recommended for women's studies scholars, legal scholars, and academics." --"Library Journal"

"This beautifully written and fascinating book is a window to the times and an important addition to women's history." --Book News, Inc.

"Lively, entertaining, and filled with rivetingly weird details. . . . Atkinson's book pays tribute to a neglected heroine." "Sunday Times""

"Important and definitive, this beautifully written and extremely entertaining book resurrects a nineteenth-century heroine for the twenty-first century." Amanda Foreman, author of "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire""

It is a brave book, written with verve and veracity. "The Times""

"Expertly researched and finely written. . . .Mrs Norton s journey from abused wife to passionate reformer is as moving as it is fascinating, and Atkinson s richly detailed work does her subject the justice she deserves." "BBC History Magazine""

An impressive biography" and "a robust portrait of a woman who refused to be circumscribed by the restrictive social mores and legal inequities of her time and place in history. "Booklist""

About this edition

• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1613748809
• ISBN 13: 9781613748800
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 486