Jill

Following her mother's death and her father's involvement with a gold-digger, aristocrat Jill decides to don the apparel of a lowly maid and travels to London seeking new adventure. Once there, she enters the employ of a mistress with whom she becomes increasingly close. Based on the author's own romantic attachment to another women, "Jill" is a poignant tale of feminism and homosexual desire not to be missed by those with an interest in early feminist and gay literature. Elizabeth Amy Dillwyn (1845-1935) was a businesswoman, social benefactor, and novelist famous for being among Britain's first female industrialists. Other notable works by this author include: "Jill and Jack" (1887), "The Rebecca Rioter" (1880), and "Chloe Arguelle" (1881). Read & Co. Classics is proudly republishing this classic novel now in a new edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author. Jill is the story of an unconventional heroine - a gentlewoman who disguises herself as a maid and runs away to London in search of adventure after her mother dies and her father is pursued by a Victorian gold-digger. Once in London she uses her position as lady's maid to become close to her mistress. Her life above and below stairs is portrayed with irreverent wit in this fast-paced story, but at the centre of the novel is Jill's unfolding love for the woman she works for. On the surface a feminist manifesto, Jill is a poignant story of same-sex desire and unrequited love. An new introduction tells the autobiographical story on which the novel is based -the author's own passionate attachment to a woman she called her wife, but who she couldn't have. Cover; Contents; Title Page; Also by the Author; Introduction - Kirsti Bohata; I. Jill Introduces Herself; II. Foreign Travel; III. A Widow's Manoeuvres; IV. A Tight Curb; V. Breaking Loose; VI. A Photograph; VII. A Few London Prices; VIII. A Street Incident; IX. A Nervous Lady; X. Change of Situation; XI. An Unwelcome Admirer; XII. The Photograph Again; XIII. Lord Clement; XIV. At Ajaccio; XV. A Driving Expedition in Corsica; XVI. Escaped Penitenciers; XVII. A Chapelle Mortuaire; XVIII. A New Use for a Bier; XIX. Off from Corsica; XX. Captain Norroy Appears; XXI. A Newspaper Paragraph