num_pages: 238
description: Herminia Barton, the Cambridge-educated daughter of a clergyman, frees herself from her parents' influence, moves to London and starts living alone. As she is not a woman of independent means, she starts working as a teacher. When she meets and falls in love with Alan Merrick, a lawyer, she suggests they live together without getting married. Reluctantly, he agrees, and the couple move to Italy. There, in Florence, Merrick dies of typhoid before their daughter Dolores is born. Legal technicalities and the fact that the couple were not married prevent Herminia from inheriting any of Merrick's money.Dreaming of being a role model for Dolores and her friends, Herminia returns to England and raises her daughter as a single mother. She wants to show the younger generation that even as a woman there is something one can do about the unfair position of women in society.Excerpt from The Woman Who DidAlan Merrick drew back with a vague ges ture of distaste. Oh, thank' you, he replied; but, do you know, I don't think I like deans, Mrs. Dewsbury.
language: English
title: The Woman Who Did
titlecomplete: The Woman Who Did
characters: Herminia Barton, Alan Merrick
genres: Fiction, Womens, Classics, Novels, 19th Century, Feminism, Victorian
ratings_count: 260
places: Florence, Tuscany, London, England
publisher: Broadview Press