An unconventional wife : the life of Julia Sorell Arnold / Mary Hoban.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hoban, Mary, author.

Contributor:

Hiram G. Haney Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain--History--Victoria, 1837-1901--Biography.

Great Britain.

History.

Arnold, Julia Sorell, 1826-1888.

Arnold, Julia Sorell.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

xv, 302 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, genealogical tables ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Brunswick, Victoria, Australia ; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA : Scribe Publications, 2019.

Summary:

Julia Sorell was an original. A colonial belle from Tasmania, vivacious and warm-hearted, Julia's marriage to Tom Arnold in 1850 propelled her into one of the most renowned families in England and into a circle that included Lewis Carroll and George Eliot. Her eldest daughter became a bestselling novelist, while her grandchildren included the writer Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, and the evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley. With these family connections, Julia is a presence in many documented and famous lives, but she is a mostly silent presence. When extracted from her background of colonial life, extracted from the covers of marriage and family life, her story reveals an extraordinary woman, a paradox who defied convention as much as she embraced it. What began as a marriage born of desire soon turned into a relationship riven by discord. Tom's sudden decision to become a Catholic and Julia's refusal to convert with him plunged their lives into a crisis wherein their great love for each other would be pitted against their profoundly different understandings of marriage and religion. It was a conflict that would play out over three decades in a time when science challenged religion, when industrialisation challenged agrarian forms, when democracy challenged aristocracy, when women began to challenge men. It was a conflict that would shape not only their own lives and that of their children, but also touch the lives of all those who came into contact with them. Told with the pace, depth, and psychological richness of a great novel, An Unconventional Wife is a riveting biography that shines a shaft of light on a hidden but captivating life. -- Dust jacket

Contents:

A tumultuous inheritance

Entering society

A coloniel belle

An unusual man

Finding love

A woman's destiny

An impossible choice

Between two worlds

Facing reality

A new beginning

Adrift

A dark world

Returning to the fold

A landscape of desire

Coming adrift

Into the abyss

Seperate lives

A revolutionary wife

Disintegration

Aftermath.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Hiram G. Haney Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Hoban, Mary. Unconventional Wife.

ISBN:

9781947534827

9781925713442

192571344X

9781912854387

1912854384

1947534823

OCLC:

1078882921

Publisher Number:

99983601545