Search - Parallel Lives : Five Victorian Marriages

This intellectual book profiles the lives of five unusual couples from the 1800's; Jane Welsh and Thomas Carlyle, Effie Gray and John Ruskin, Harriet Taylor and John Stuart Mill, Catherine Hogarth and Charles Dickens, George Eliot and George Henry Lewes. Each of the couples has some unusual arrangement, usually regarding sex (or the lack thereof). In fact, there's a lot of talk about sex (and the lack thereof) throughout the entire book, not in a descriptive way, but analyzing the customs of the time. Some knowledge of English writers and their literature may help. The two readers of this household found it entertaining in an oddly twisted sort of way. Be sure to read the notes at the end.

I really couldn't get into this book, to me it reads like a text book but if you have an interest in the politics of the victorian era you might like it.

From the cover: "A lively study...a writer of great wit and freedom...Rose's anecdotes and insights provide a fresh view of the circumstances that bedeviled relations between the sexes a century ago."
A peek into the private lives of John Ruskin (wedding night trauma), Thomas Carlyle (his wife had the last word from the grave), John Stuart Mill (great thinker suffered from infantile dependency), Charles Dickens ('rock star' of the mid-19th century), and George Eliot (defied convention by co-habitation with her biggest fan).
Some of the most entertaining notes I've ever read!