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"Before the Bront sisters picked up their pens, or Jane Austen's heroines Elizabeth and Jane Bennet became household names, the literary world was celebrating a different pair of sisters: Jane and Anna Maria Porter. The Porters--exact contemporaries of Jane Austen--were brilliant, attractive, self-made single women of polite reputation who between them published twenty-six books and achieved global fame. They socialized among the rich and famous, tried to hide their family's considerable debt, and fell dramatically in and out of love. Their moving letters to each other confess every detail. Because the celebrity sisters expected their renown to live on, they preserved their papers, and the secrets they contained, for any biographers to come. But history hasn't been kind to the Porters. Credit for their literary invention was given to their childhood friend, Sir Walter Scott, who never publicly acknowledged his debt to their ideas. With Scott's more prolific publication and even greater renown, the Porter sisters gradually fell from the pinnacle of celebrity to eventual obscurity. Now, Professor Devoney Looser, a Guggenheim fellow in English Literature, sets out to re-introduce the world to the authors who cleared the way for Austen, Mary Shelley, and the Bront sisters. Capturing the Porter sisters' incredible rise, from when Anna Maria published her first book at age fourteen in 1793, through to Jane's fall from prominence in the Victorian era, and then to the auctioning off for a pittance of the family's massive archive, Sister Novelists is a groundbreaking and enthralling biography of two pioneering geniuses in historical fiction"--… (more)
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Devoney Looser determined to give the Porter sisters a deserved biography. The story of these women, and their brothers and friends and romantic crushes, as dramatic and exciting as any fiction. It’s the story of brilliant, independent, high minded women who make every mistake imaginable in terms of where they gave their affection and loyalty. Who gained fame but struggled with homelessness and poverty. They met the most famous writers, actors, and titled people of their time, where admired by important men, were beautiful and intelligent, but never found love or riches. Every time it looked as if their fortunes were changing, their hopes were dashed. Their brother Robert was a gifted artist, successful for a moment, then in huge debt. He married a Russian princess, but had no fairy tale ending.
Jane Porter’s The Scottish Chiefs was Queen Victoria’s and President Andrew Jackson’s favorite book. It inspired Sir Walter Scott. Emily Dickinson owned Jane’s bestsellers. It was even included in the The Classics Illustrated Comics, No 67. And, it may be the uncredited inspiration for the move Braveheart.
Of course, the reason why we didn’t study the Porters at university was because they wrote historical fiction. My professor scoffed when I said my husband brought home a complete set of Scott, indicating that those books were not esteemed as literature.
During the writing of this book, I had moments when I wished I could shake these brilliant sisters by the shoulders and ask, “What are you doing?”
from Sister Novelists by Devoney Looser
Maria was the more outgoing of the sisters and fell in love easily. Jane was considered the more beautiful, shy and serious. They were exceedingly well-read. Influenced by Mary Wollstonecraft, they were proud of their independence. To be women and writers, with their names on their books, was still socially unacceptable.
They fell for charming, handsome scoundrels, preferring to see the best in these men.
Their fame and popularity brought entrée into the world of the wealthy and priviledged, while they economized and often went without necessities. Their friends had ‘colorful lives.’ They used their wide experience in their novels, thrilling readers while educating them in history. They believed that while entertaining readers, they could also inspire proper values and character.
I am not exaggerating to say that their lives were as full of tragedy, reversals, and serendipitous good fortune as any romance or soap opera imaginable. The stories of their brothers and their beloved friends are just as dramatic and colorful. I was riveted to the book, updating my spouse on the latest shocking episode.
This is a must read for anyone interested in women writers, the early novel, and women’s social history. Readers of history will gain insight into all levels of society.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.