Across an Untried Sea

October 2, 2000
Markus's latest foray into the world of Victorian passion describes the complexly intertwined circle of accomplished women who were involved with the American actress Charlotte Cushman in the mid-19th century. Among them were the sculptor Harriet Hosmer; the novelist Geraldine Jewsbery; the object of Geraldine's passionate attachment, Jane Welsh Carlyle (the wife of British historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle); and several others. All these women, save Jane, made their deepest emotional commitments to one another, often in a "Boston marriage," and may or may not have been sexually involved. However, Markus sheds very little light on the nature of these relationships or their historical context. We learn next to nothing about how these women managed to succeed in their independent careers at a time when women, especially in Britain, had virtually no autonomy. Indeed, because of the peculiarities of Markus's style, which mixes a Victorian fondness for exclamation points and italics with 20th-century slang, the unwary reader might have difficulty figuring out exactly when these women flourished. Markus, who previously dealt with the marriage of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning in Dared and Done, appears to believe that the news that our ancestors were sexual beings is sufficient to carry a book. It is not. 73 illus.

September 15, 2000
Basing her thoughtful study mainly on primary sources, Markus (English, Hofstra Univ.) explores the interlocking circles of female friendships among Victorian women, especially those associated with Jane Welsh Carlyle and Charlotte Cushman. Cushman was the most acclaimed actress in America and England in her day, and Carlyle, wife of Thomas Carlyle, is remembered for her volumes of letters. Both women attracted and supported other artistic and literary women, notably, in Cushman's case, the young American sculptors Harriet Hosmer and Emma Stebbins. Many of these independent women challenged conventional roles and society in their professional and private lives. Another recent and noteworthy study of Cushman is Lisa Merrill's When Romeo Was a Woman: Charlotte Cushman and Her Circle of Female Spectators (LJ 12/98). Appropriate for academic and large public libraries and women's studies collections. (Index not seen.)--Patricia A. Beaber, Coll. of New Jersey Lib., Ewing

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October 1, 2000
Markus' passion for Victorian culture and quest for the truth about women's lives inspired " Dared and Done: The Marriage of Eliz"abeth Barrett and Robert Browning (1995) and this novelistic group portrait of a circle of vibrant, creative, and influential nineteenth-century women artists. She begins without preamble and proceeds without commentary, wisely allowing her subjects and their dramatic, interconnected stories to speak for themselves. At the center is Charlotte Cushman, a successful American actress, who headed households in Rome and London, supported her extended family, and was loved by a coterie of competitive women. As Markus vividly profiles Cushman's lovers and friends, including the sculptor Emma Stebbins, the painter Rosa Bonheur, and the novelist Geraldine Jewsbury, she works her way to the second key figure in her revelatory narrative, Jane Welsh Carlyle, Thomas Carlyle's intellectually gifted yet sexually and emotionally deprived wife. Markus' keen portraits shed light on long-hidden facets of Victorian arts and letters and celebrate a group of brilliant and trailblazing women, who sought and found "meaningful work" and love outside the confines of heterosexual marriage.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)