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This captivating biography traces the life of Eliza Fenwick, an extraordinary woman who paved her own unique path throughout the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as she made her way from country to country as writer, teacher, and school owner.
Lissa Paul brings to light Fenwick's letters for the first time to reveal the relationships she developed with many key figures of her era, and to tell Fenwick's story as depicted by the woman herself. Fenwick began as a writer in the radical London of the 1790s, a member of Mary Wollstonecraft's circle, and when her marriage crumbled, she became a prolific author of children's literature to support her family. Eventually Fenwick moved to Barbados, becoming the owner of a school while confronting the reality of slavery in the British colonies. She would go on to establish schools in numerous cities in the United States and Canada, all the while taking care of her daughter and grandchildren and maintaining her friendships through letters that, as presented here, tell the story of her life.
Published by the University of Delaware Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.
List of contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Notes on the Text
Abbreviations
Prelude
Chapter 1. Daughter of Methodism
Chapter 2. Mother and Author
Chapter 3. Children's Book Writer and Friend
Chapter 4. Governess and Networker
Chapter 5. Colonist and Slaveholder
Chapter 6. School Owner and Mourner
Chapter 7. North American Grandmother
Coda
Notes
References
Index
About the author
Lissa Paul is Professor of Education at Brock University and the author of
The Children’s Book Business: Lessons from the Long Eighteenth Century.
Summary
This captivating biography traces the life of Eliza Fenwick, an extraordinary woman who paved her own unique path throughout the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as she made her way from country to country as writer, teacher, and school owner.
