For Woman's Love

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte SouthworthProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 780K words
Chapters: 78

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.For Woman's Love by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte SouthworthAuthor: Southworth, Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte, 1819-1899,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 20, 2005

Editor's review

For Woman's Love is a work by E. D. E. N. Southworth, a nineteenth-century American popular novelist, made available as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. Southworth was known in her day for intricately plotted, emotionally charged domestic romances, and this novel belongs to that vein: its characters' fortunes rise and fall and emotional conflicts come thick and fast. It is best read as a sample of nineteenth-century American popular fiction rather than as a work that pursues a modern narrative pace. Its value lies in showing the reading tastes and moral imagination of the female readership of the time, and it is useful to readers studying the history of popular fiction or the relationship between gender and reading culture. It suits leisurely, section-by-section reading rather than a race to the finish; paired with brief background on nineteenth-century American society and publishing, it will yield more concrete rewards. One caveat: this is an old English original whose language habits are remote from present-day English and whose plot unfolds slowly.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in nineteenth-century American popular fiction and women's reading culture
English learners who want low-cost access to English originals through public-domain eBooks
Readers who enjoy classic family-saga plots with emotional conflict
Beginners studying the history of popular literature or the relation between gender and reading

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer a modern, tight narrative pace and short sentences
Readers with little English reading experience who would struggle with nineteenth-century English
Readers expecting classic-level depth of analysis and symbolic interpretation

Reading tips

Read the first few chapters to gauge the language difficulty and the plot's appeal before deciding whether to read straight through or selectively.
Keep a simple character list and update it as you read to ease the burden of tracking figures in a long classic novel.
Read alongside background material on nineteenth-century American popular fiction to understand its historical context.
Cover a fixed amount each day to avoid plot fatigue from long, continuous reading.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for English beginners to practice reading?

Not really for complete beginners or elementary readers. The original is nineteenth-century English with long sentences and old-fashioned wording, and the plot moves slowly. Readers with some experience of long English fiction who are willing to look words up can try it, but they should sample the first few chapters to assess the difficulty.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides a free electronic text that is easy to obtain and search on a computer or e-reader. This edition is an electronic transcription of the English original, with no modern introduction or detailed notes, so readers need to supply background material themselves.

Do I need to know the author's life before reading this book?

Not as a prerequisite. Knowing that Southworth was a nineteenth-century American writer of popular fiction whose works were aimed largely at a mass readership helps set expectations; specific biographical details can be looked up as needed while reading and do not affect understanding of the story itself.

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About the author

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth Author · American · 1819–1899

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth (1819–1899) was one of the best-selling popular novelists in nineteenth-century America. Over her career she wrote more than sixty novels, most set against family life and the post-war South, and she was known for portraying self-made men and independent, resilient women. Her plots are intricate and emotionally intense, with sentimental and romance elements, and her works circulated widely among women readers of her time. Representative works include The Hidden Hand, Ishmael, For Woman's Love, and Capitola's Peril. The library holds thirteen of her works, covering novels and domestic fiction. Public information on her early education and specific biography is limited, yet her novels occupy a place in the spread of nineteenth-century American popular literature and have influenced later popular fiction writing.