Authors sisterhood uncovered tonight

Writers talk at Hungerford Bookshop

IN their first book together, writers Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney resurrect four literary collaborations, which were sometimes illicit, scandalous and volatile; sometimes supportive, radicalor inspiring; but always, until now, tantalisingly consigned to the shadows. Drawing on letters and diaries – some of which have never been published before – and new
documents uncovered during the authors’ research, the creative connections explored reveal Jane Austen’s bond with a family servant, the amateur playwright Anne Sharp; how Charlotte Bronte was inspired by the daring feminist Mary Taylor; the transatlantic relationship between George Eliot and the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe; and the underlying erotic charge that lit the friendship of Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield – a pair too often dismissed as bitter foes.
A Secret Sisterhood uncovers the hidden literary friendships of the world’s most respected female authors. Margaret Atwood said: “In digging up the forgotten friendships chronicled in A Secret Sisterhood, Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney have done much service to literary history.”

The authors will be speaking at The Hungerford Bookshop this evening (Thursday), at 7.30pm. Tickets are £6 and include a glass of wine and £5 off the book on the night. Call (01488) 683480 to reserve your space.
The link to Emma Claire Sweeney’s blog is https://emmaclairesweeney.com/writing/a-secret-sisterhood/