Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a strident feminist whose own personal life was difficult, flawed and challenged at the same time as she struggled with her beliefs for a more equal status for women. Her stories, both from experience and imagination, drive her characters forward in ways, that with hindsight, we can now fully appreciate.1 - 100 Year Old Charlotte Perkins Gilman Feminism Stories - An Introduction2 - If I Were A Man by Charlotte Perkins Gilman3 - The Yello...

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on 3rd July 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut, to an unaffectionate mother and a father who abandoned her and her older brother to a life of poverty.Inevitably her schooling was limited and by 15 she had attended seven different schools but received only four years education. However Charlotte was resourceful and did spend time with her father’s aunts – the suffragist Isabella Beecher Hooker and the ‘Uncle Tom Cabin’s’ author, Harriet Beecher Stowe as ...

The bookshelves of American literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors. From this continent their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure. Among them is Eudora Welty.

The bookshelves of American literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors. From this continent their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure. Among them is Dorothy Parker.

Let’s be clear. We are all equal under the law. However, even in these more modern times that is not an absolute and still remains a distant ambition for many.In the days when Britain ruled the waves and bestrode the world as its policeman and plunderer in chief it also subjugated half of its own people to second class status. Women were chattel and property. There were some exceptions based on wealth and birthright but for the overwhelming majority your lot was to fall in with the...

Our journey through the arc and pages of a book is often in the safe and knowing words of a narrator. But sometimes these friends, these guardians of our trust play games, they betray our literary friendship with lines on which we can’t rely. They take us into literary mazes turn characters we accept into those we mistrust, situations we know into something we can now only doubt. However, we still enjoy the journey; sometimes they make it so much fun there may be a happy ending. But often ...

There is something about the number 3.The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two.Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes.Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore them...

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

Once again on the American side of the Atlantic talent pours forth from the pens of these literary women. Even to choose a mere ten seems to be a choice too difficult to make. Society may hold women back but these writers are equal to the challenge and overcome its boundaries with superbly written stories that are a beacon for all others who follow.1 - The Top Ten - 19th Century American women2 - Since I Died by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps3 - The Peterkins Decide to Lea...

Today mental health is a hot subject that elicits empathy and concern. But in past times mental health was more often seen as the work of the devil or at least dark forces that the victim was deserving.In this volume our classic authors explore and explain how characters deal with such issues.1 - Short Storties that Deal with Mental Health - An Introduction2 - Diary of a Madman by Nikolai Gogol3 - The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman4 - L...

This century unfolds with a fast-changing world riven by immense wars and glutton hungry Empires. Women strive to win the most basic of rights, the right to vote. Their literary testament is now a vital part of our cultural world. They write on all manner of subjects with truth, with imagination and with undeniable talent. We are all the richer for their words.1 - The Top Ten - 20th Century Women2 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather3 - Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...