num_pages: 700
description: Sarah Grand's dual novel of the diabolically mischievous twins Diavolo and Angelica and the coming of age of nineteen-year-old Evadne valiantly explores subjects considered taboo for a female writer of the Victorian age. Through her characters, Grand, considered one of the "New Woman" writers of the late 1800s, courageously advocated "rational dress," financial independence, personal fulfillment over marriage and motherhood, and the freedom of women to initiate sexual relationships outside of wedlock and to openly discuss such volatile sexual topics as a woman's right to contraception. She was one of the first to explore the complexity of gender roles and their inherent constraints.Grand's ability to stimulate controversy was nearly unsurpassed. Publishers refused to issue The Heavenly Twins —so the author ensured its publication by paying for it herself, raising capital from a network of supporters.Not only did Grand's innovative writing become the object of censure, but the author herself endured relentless attacks on her morality and personality. The issues close to Grand, manifested in her prose and by her personal experience, are as relevant today as they were in her time.Sarah Grand was born in Ireland in 1854. A member of the Woman Writer's Suffrage League and branch president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, Grand was also the author of Ideala and The Beth Book. She died in 1943 in Bath, England, where she had served six years as mayoress.
language: English
title: The Heavenly Twins
titlecomplete: The Heavenly Twins
genres: Historical, Feminism, Classics, Womens, Novels, Victorian, 19th Century, Fiction
ratings_count: 189
publisher: Kessinger Publishing