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The Half Sisters
This radical novel contrasts the lives of two women in Victorian England. The illegitimate Bianca contends with poverty and prejudice to attain eminence and respectability as an actress. Her legitimate half sister, Alice, finds herself unhappily married, trapped in the dreary and philistine
existence endured by numerous middle-class wives of her time. Each has to confront the implications of passion in a woman's life, with surprising results that challenged contemporary orthodoxy. Now back in print for the first time in over a century, this poignant work addresses the damaging effects
of conventional Victorian beliefs about women.
existence endured by numerous middle-class wives of her time. Each has to confront the implications of passion in a woman's life, with surprising results that challenged contemporary orthodoxy. Now back in print for the first time in over a century, this poignant work addresses the damaging effects
of conventional Victorian beliefs about women.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1848
4 people are currently reading
907 people want to read
About the author
Geraldine Jewsbury
27 books11 followersGeraldine Jewsbury was born in Measham, then in Derbyshire, now in Leicestershire. She was the daughter of Thomas Jewsbury (d. 1840), a cotton manufacturer and merchant, and his wife Maria, née Smith, (d. 1819). The family moved to Manchester in 1818, after her father's business failed. After her mother died, she was brought up by her sister Maria Jane Jewsbury. In 1841 Geraldine Jewsbury met the Carlyles. Thomas Carlyle pronounced her "one of the most interesting young women I have seen for years, delicate sense & courage looking out of her small sylph-like figure." Jewsbury has earned a place in literature in three respects: as a novelist, as a critic and publisher's reader, and as a figure in London literary life. Jewsbury was primarily a novelist of ideas and moral dilemmas.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
December 29, 2020
A truly incredible Victorian novel – clever, different, compelling, proto-feminist, well-written and just wonderful.
October 27, 2022
I was excited to discover another queer Victorian author Geraldine Jewsbury, and opted to try her scandalous bestseller from 1848. It’s essentially a vehicle for Jewsbury’s outspoken stance on what was known as the ‘woman question’ and revolves around two sisters whose vastly different choices enable Jewsbury to air her vehement views on marriage, gender roles, and the possibilities for women’s self-fulfilment. Bianca Pazzi and Alice Helmsby are the daughters of deceased industrialist Phillip Helmsby. Bianca was born after her father’s youthful affair with her Italian mother, while Alice is the legitimate outcome of his later marriage. The daydreaming, bookish Alice is outwardly the perfect Victorian lady who weds a suitably wealthy man, in line with her rigidly conventional mother’s demands. The impoverished Bianca however is driven by a need to make money, ending up as a jobbing actor. The results for Alice are disastrous, left to her own devices while her husband devotes his time to business, her creative spirit’s gradually crushed and subdued by her isolated, empty existence. Bianca, on the other hand, is passionate about the theatre, managing to turn economic necessity into a vocation. The half-sisters’ paths eventually cross and fate links them further through their respective entanglements with the dissolute, self-centred Conrad. Something which will lead to catastrophe for one of them.
I thought the early stages of Jewsbury’s novel worked really well, the settings, her depiction of Victorian values, the characterisation of the two sisters, all captured my attention. Although as I read this, I found Jewsbury’s style of narration increasingly intrusive and didactic. It’s a deliberate strategy part of her ongoing challenge to popular writers like Sarah Stickney Ellis whose successful books urged Victorian women to embrace a life of selfless, duty-bound, devoted wifedom. Jewsbury’s extremely forthright in her condemnation of provincial marriages, she favours women welcoming risk and exploring their creativity like Bianca, rather than succumbing to convention and the likelihood of stagnation like Alice.
Although on the surface Jewsbury’s perspective's quite radical it also seems curiously compromised. She based Bianca on phenomenally successful actor Charlotte Cushman. Cushman was at the centre of a vibrant, queer literary and artistic circle based in Rome. She lived openly with other women and refused to conform to popular notions of femininity – Cushman famously introduced Elizabeth Barratt Browning to the concept of a ‘female marriage’ and at one point was the object of Jewsbury’s unrequited love. Yet in many ways the fictional Bianca seems Charlotte’s complete opposite, intensely respectable and sheltered in all aspects of her life beyond the stage, not that far from the model of femininity Jewsbury seems to despise and labels “unnatural.” And the only real hint of queerness is in Bianca’s description of her prospective lover Lord Melton as “gentle” and “delicate” like her mother, so that he appears as potentially gender non-conforming compared to other men featured in the narrative.
But the second half of the novel was a definite disappointment, Jewsbury gets so carried away by wanting to spread her message that her story’s completely overtaken by it. There are pages of lengthy dialogues between characters, all holding forth on some aspect of womanhood, the rights and wrongs of education for women, whether women should work, and framing these are some particularly melodramatic incidents accompanied by an outpouring of frenzied emotions. It’s an interesting piece but not a balanced or entirely memorable one,
Victober 2022 Challenge - Coming-of-age story
rating: 2.5/3
I thought the early stages of Jewsbury’s novel worked really well, the settings, her depiction of Victorian values, the characterisation of the two sisters, all captured my attention. Although as I read this, I found Jewsbury’s style of narration increasingly intrusive and didactic. It’s a deliberate strategy part of her ongoing challenge to popular writers like Sarah Stickney Ellis whose successful books urged Victorian women to embrace a life of selfless, duty-bound, devoted wifedom. Jewsbury’s extremely forthright in her condemnation of provincial marriages, she favours women welcoming risk and exploring their creativity like Bianca, rather than succumbing to convention and the likelihood of stagnation like Alice.
Although on the surface Jewsbury’s perspective's quite radical it also seems curiously compromised. She based Bianca on phenomenally successful actor Charlotte Cushman. Cushman was at the centre of a vibrant, queer literary and artistic circle based in Rome. She lived openly with other women and refused to conform to popular notions of femininity – Cushman famously introduced Elizabeth Barratt Browning to the concept of a ‘female marriage’ and at one point was the object of Jewsbury’s unrequited love. Yet in many ways the fictional Bianca seems Charlotte’s complete opposite, intensely respectable and sheltered in all aspects of her life beyond the stage, not that far from the model of femininity Jewsbury seems to despise and labels “unnatural.” And the only real hint of queerness is in Bianca’s description of her prospective lover Lord Melton as “gentle” and “delicate” like her mother, so that he appears as potentially gender non-conforming compared to other men featured in the narrative.
But the second half of the novel was a definite disappointment, Jewsbury gets so carried away by wanting to spread her message that her story’s completely overtaken by it. There are pages of lengthy dialogues between characters, all holding forth on some aspect of womanhood, the rights and wrongs of education for women, whether women should work, and framing these are some particularly melodramatic incidents accompanied by an outpouring of frenzied emotions. It’s an interesting piece but not a balanced or entirely memorable one,
Victober 2022 Challenge - Coming-of-age story
rating: 2.5/3
February 23, 2018
Geraldine Jewsbury seems to have been ahead of her times. In this novel, she addresses the lack of women's education, the lack of "respectable" jobs for women and looks at the need for more in their lives than needlepoint, singing and being weak reflections of their husbands. She argues that a woman can be self-reliant, smart, capable and successful by working at something she loves to do and dealing with her own finances & situation. Radical thinking in 1848.
This is an enjoyable story to read. It does use "coincidence" and "luck" a little bit but in general, the contrasting story of the 2 half-sisters, Alice and Bianca, is an interesting look at expectations, upbringing and conformity.
Not perfect, with a bit of sermonizing in the middle, and a weak ending and yet a very enjoyable read.
This is an enjoyable story to read. It does use "coincidence" and "luck" a little bit but in general, the contrasting story of the 2 half-sisters, Alice and Bianca, is an interesting look at expectations, upbringing and conformity.
Not perfect, with a bit of sermonizing in the middle, and a weak ending and yet a very enjoyable read.
October 17, 2021
The Half Sisters is both awfully melodramatic and heartbreaking. It's a story of half sisters, one born in poor circumstances and becomes an actress, the other one much more better suited to the society but unhappy. I loved following both of the sisters but I have a soft spot for Bianca and her character development. She is really the star of the show - illegitimate, poor and foreign but still manages to get what she wants. Jewsbury writes characters well but there are parts that feel a bit too over the top to my liking; sudden sicknesses, deaths and ardent speeches. In the end, however, I was really rooting for the best for the certain characters and was very pleased how everything was played out. I highly recommend this underappreciated but very good Victorian novel to everyone!
October 25, 2022
This is the story of two half-sisters, illegitimate Bianca, and typical Victorian lass Alice both fathered by Brit Philip Helmsby; Bianca from an Italian girl that Helsmby leaves behind in Italy to take over a business at his father’s death, unaware of the child’s existence, and Alice from his attempt to acquire business and financial success through marrying Alice’s mother, his father’s partner’s daughter. The story begins with Bianca and her mother travelling to England in search of Helmsby, unaware of his death.
The story started out quite strong as Bianca’s story is quite different from other Victorian heroines I have encountered. Alice’s story of an unhappy Victorian wife, while not as interesting, has some intriguing aspects too. At the half-way point, I thought that Jewsbury’s writing style, characterization and plotting to be as skilled as any of the more renowned Victorian novelists writing in the 1840s.This seemed to be a hidden gem.
However, then the storytelling went off the rails. In her attempt to discuss and portray feminist ideas on women’s role, Jewsbury turns her dialogue into exchanges of sermons and the book became quite tedious as characterization and plot took back seats to these diatribes.
Then, when Jewsbury returns to more plot driven discussions and scenes, her characters take actions contrary to what we thought we knew about the characters, and this results in some head-scratching events. I often wondered what point Jewsbury wanted to make. The ultimate fate of both Bianca and Alice was disappointing and a book once strong on characterization descends into portraits that are muddled and do not ring true.
Due to my disappointment with its strong start and crash landing of a second half, I rate this as 2 stars. Too bad. It could have been a contender.
The story started out quite strong as Bianca’s story is quite different from other Victorian heroines I have encountered. Alice’s story of an unhappy Victorian wife, while not as interesting, has some intriguing aspects too. At the half-way point, I thought that Jewsbury’s writing style, characterization and plotting to be as skilled as any of the more renowned Victorian novelists writing in the 1840s.This seemed to be a hidden gem.
However, then the storytelling went off the rails. In her attempt to discuss and portray feminist ideas on women’s role, Jewsbury turns her dialogue into exchanges of sermons and the book became quite tedious as characterization and plot took back seats to these diatribes.
Then, when Jewsbury returns to more plot driven discussions and scenes, her characters take actions contrary to what we thought we knew about the characters, and this results in some head-scratching events. I often wondered what point Jewsbury wanted to make. The ultimate fate of both Bianca and Alice was disappointing and a book once strong on characterization descends into portraits that are muddled and do not ring true.
Due to my disappointment with its strong start and crash landing of a second half, I rate this as 2 stars. Too bad. It could have been a contender.
September 27, 2022
The introduction and some background reading informed me that one of Jewsbury's themes here, and indeed a passion of hers, were the constraints placed (especially) on married women in her day. Jewsbury herself never married. She wrote The Half Sisters in 1848. While there may have been some latitude given to unmarried women to provide for themselves (school teaching, governessing, millinery work, etc.), once a woman was married, all passions and interests "unbecoming to a married woman" were to be set aside, and her work was the running or supervision of her household. Likewise, it was unseemly for her to have or (perish the thought) vocalize opinions on issues of the day. Husbands found that sort of thing unladylike. Jewsbury (as third person narrator) lets loose against society's expectations for young girls and women in Chapter 27:
"If all women were not brought up in such unnatural traditions of what is 'feminine' and 'maiden like', and 'sensitively delicate', they would not feel it a bounden obligation to tell lies, and deny an honest lawful affection for a lover. But they are crushed down under so many generations of arbitrary rules for the regulation of their manners and conversation; they are from their cradle embedded in such a composite of fictitiously-tinted virtues, and artificial qualities, that even the best and strongest amongst them are not conscious that the physiology of their minds is as warped by the traditions of feminine decorum, as that of their persons is by ... stiff corsets ..."
Overall, I see the story of The Half Sisters as a love pentangle. The primary characters are Bianca Pazzi, the poor daughter of an Italian mother and an absent English father, who comes to England with a passion for acting, her half sister Alice, who is unaware of their true relationship, Conrad Percy, world traveller William Bryant and Lord Melton, a friend of Conrad. As the story progresses, intense loves form and fade among these five players.
As young Bianca dreams of a day when she can realize her aspiration to be a great stage actress, Jewsbury gives a stirring compilation of the thoughts of any ambitious person preparing for the arduous course of work they are about to take on:
"... she felt a discouraging chill ... at finding herself at the very bottom of the ladder, and feeling herself dwarfed, as it were, to nothingness, standing beside the immense task her ambition had prompted. But her spirit soon rallied; and she made a solemn resolution that no difficulty should present itself to which she would not oppose at least as much resolution and patience as should be necessary to combat it; that she would turn aside from no drudgery, take offense at no professional humiliation, but keep her eye steadily fixed on her own purpose; and that purpose was to rise to a leading rank in her profession."
And later, we can imagine Jewsbury thinking about her writing when Bianca defends her career after Alice tries to pry her away from the "degradation" of acting on the stage:
"Dear, kind friend! ... you have been my guardian angel; without you I must have been either dead or mad by this time. I owe you an immensity of obligation, which I can only pay by loving you with all my heart and soul. Any possible desire you expressed about me, I would kill myself to perform; but you cannot change my nature, I must be what I am. The stage is to me a passion, as well as a profession; I can work in no other direction; I should become worthless and miserable; all my faculties would prey upon myself, and I should even be wicked ... if I were placed in any other position. You don't know what it is to be devoted to an art; it possesses one like a demon; it is a sacred necessity laid upon me, which I cannot help obeying."
And later, more concisely:
"My natural tendencies would have all been violently crushed down. I should have found no opening for my energies in the smoothly-compacted surface of female existence. God gave me talents, such as they are, and I should have been possessed as by a demon, if I had not been able to give free scope to them."
Conrad reveals his shocking lack of understanding of Bianca's passion when he says to Lord Melton, "They all of them follow their profession, not from any high love of art, but to gain their living, and that takes the shine out of any ideal they profess to set forth, they do it for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread."
I'm afraid my father, who married in the 1950's, and many of his generation of American men, had thoughts very like Conrad in terms of the ideal wife. That's 100 years later with little change in men's attitudes. After the Women's Lib movement, and its effect on young men, I believe most men since have very different ideas more in line with women's views.
There were moments in The Half Sisters, however, that did not ring true to life to me. I cannot believe that a man passionately in love with a married woman would ask her to allow him to live with them, truly believing that he will remain only a devoted but unrequited lover of hers. The only realistic actions would be for him to ask for that arrangement in the secret but obvious hope that he would win her away from her husband, or to go away.
And when a woman with a passion for her career marries and gives it all up, Jewsbury completely glosses over the serious misgivings the woman no doubt has about that loss, which was the primary theme of the novel !
"If all women were not brought up in such unnatural traditions of what is 'feminine' and 'maiden like', and 'sensitively delicate', they would not feel it a bounden obligation to tell lies, and deny an honest lawful affection for a lover. But they are crushed down under so many generations of arbitrary rules for the regulation of their manners and conversation; they are from their cradle embedded in such a composite of fictitiously-tinted virtues, and artificial qualities, that even the best and strongest amongst them are not conscious that the physiology of their minds is as warped by the traditions of feminine decorum, as that of their persons is by ... stiff corsets ..."
Overall, I see the story of The Half Sisters as a love pentangle. The primary characters are Bianca Pazzi, the poor daughter of an Italian mother and an absent English father, who comes to England with a passion for acting, her half sister Alice, who is unaware of their true relationship, Conrad Percy, world traveller William Bryant and Lord Melton, a friend of Conrad. As the story progresses, intense loves form and fade among these five players.
As young Bianca dreams of a day when she can realize her aspiration to be a great stage actress, Jewsbury gives a stirring compilation of the thoughts of any ambitious person preparing for the arduous course of work they are about to take on:
"... she felt a discouraging chill ... at finding herself at the very bottom of the ladder, and feeling herself dwarfed, as it were, to nothingness, standing beside the immense task her ambition had prompted. But her spirit soon rallied; and she made a solemn resolution that no difficulty should present itself to which she would not oppose at least as much resolution and patience as should be necessary to combat it; that she would turn aside from no drudgery, take offense at no professional humiliation, but keep her eye steadily fixed on her own purpose; and that purpose was to rise to a leading rank in her profession."
And later, we can imagine Jewsbury thinking about her writing when Bianca defends her career after Alice tries to pry her away from the "degradation" of acting on the stage:
"Dear, kind friend! ... you have been my guardian angel; without you I must have been either dead or mad by this time. I owe you an immensity of obligation, which I can only pay by loving you with all my heart and soul. Any possible desire you expressed about me, I would kill myself to perform; but you cannot change my nature, I must be what I am. The stage is to me a passion, as well as a profession; I can work in no other direction; I should become worthless and miserable; all my faculties would prey upon myself, and I should even be wicked ... if I were placed in any other position. You don't know what it is to be devoted to an art; it possesses one like a demon; it is a sacred necessity laid upon me, which I cannot help obeying."
And later, more concisely:
"My natural tendencies would have all been violently crushed down. I should have found no opening for my energies in the smoothly-compacted surface of female existence. God gave me talents, such as they are, and I should have been possessed as by a demon, if I had not been able to give free scope to them."
Conrad reveals his shocking lack of understanding of Bianca's passion when he says to Lord Melton, "They all of them follow their profession, not from any high love of art, but to gain their living, and that takes the shine out of any ideal they profess to set forth, they do it for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread."
I'm afraid my father, who married in the 1950's, and many of his generation of American men, had thoughts very like Conrad in terms of the ideal wife. That's 100 years later with little change in men's attitudes. After the Women's Lib movement, and its effect on young men, I believe most men since have very different ideas more in line with women's views.
There were moments in The Half Sisters, however, that did not ring true to life to me. I cannot believe that a man passionately in love with a married woman would ask her to allow him to live with them, truly believing that he will remain only a devoted but unrequited lover of hers. The only realistic actions would be for him to ask for that arrangement in the secret but obvious hope that he would win her away from her husband, or to go away.
And when a woman with a passion for her career marries and gives it all up, Jewsbury completely glosses over the serious misgivings the woman no doubt has about that loss, which was the primary theme of the novel !
October 15, 2022
Promising blurb and beginning of this novel, but disappointing sentimental middle and conventional end.
October 12, 2016
Absolutely delightful and thought provoking.
October 21, 2022
3.5 Jewsbury’s double Bildungsroman compares and contrasts the social situations and moral dilemmas of two half-sisters with opposing socioeconomic status, legitimacy, national origins, upbringing, education, manner, personality, and world views. Jewsbury occasionally mistakes opinions for facts as she preaches her views on mistaken social attitudes, gender expectations, and reliance on conformity to social and religious conventions instead of moral and spiritual truths. However, instead of offering easy answers, Jewsbury writes a nuanced story demonstrating the struggles and suffering these girls face to lead satisfying, purposeful, and morally worthy lives.
September 20, 2022
'Geraldine Jewsbury would certainly not have expected anybody at this time of day to bother themselves about her novels. If she had caught one pulling them down from the shelf in some library she would have expostulated. “They’re such nonsense, my dear”, she would have said.' *
Only a genius like Virginia Woolf could have chiselled such a verdict about this novel, subtle and merciful at once. Take her at her word.
Is there anything else that I should add? A summary maybe? Well ...
First half:
expected "radical" remarks
promising characters
beginnings of a plot
bits of subtle humour
Second half:
Alice, Alice!
Conrad! Conrad!
passion (platonic)!
drama! tragedy!
lots of speeches!
death! despair!
more speeches!
melodrama! lol!
"Be merciful and kill me" - seriously!
sickness everywhere!
misunderstandings galore!
implausible coincidences galore!
yet more speeches!
agony! ooooh!
exclamation marks!
religious awakening!
inevitable HEA ...
* Virginia Woolf. Common Reader 2. https://www.virginiawoolfproject.com/...
Only a genius like Virginia Woolf could have chiselled such a verdict about this novel, subtle and merciful at once. Take her at her word.
Is there anything else that I should add? A summary maybe? Well ...
First half:
expected "radical" remarks
promising characters
beginnings of a plot
bits of subtle humour
Second half:
Alice, Alice!
Conrad! Conrad!
passion (platonic)!
drama! tragedy!
lots of speeches!
death! despair!
more speeches!
melodrama! lol!
"Be merciful and kill me" - seriously!
sickness everywhere!
misunderstandings galore!
implausible coincidences galore!
yet more speeches!
agony! ooooh!
exclamation marks!
religious awakening!
inevitable HEA ...
* Virginia Woolf. Common Reader 2. https://www.virginiawoolfproject.com/...
October 16, 2023
3.5. I liked this but the mixed messages of what a woman should and shouldn’t do didn’t seem very feminist to me despite this being touted as being pretty progressive for the time. I also couldn’t stand pretty much any of the main male characters and was unhappy that the younger sister’s storyline wasn’t really ever completed because she died so prematurely.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2020
Elizabeth Barrett Browning mentions Geraldine Jewsbury in her letters, I take to heart when an author takes notice of another writer, so I take heed. Side note, Elizabeth's letters are truly interesting.
"And, do you know, I was much taken, in London, with a young authoress, Geraldine Jewsbury. You have read her books. There’s a French sort of daring, half-audacious power in them, but she herself is quiet and simple, and drew my heart out of me a good deal. "
I absolutely loved this story and become more enamoured as I read on. I had no idea that this was heading to a direction that I did not foresee which made it quite page turning. At first the sick mother in a foreign country with a young daughter, which reminds me of Marie Belloc Lowndes' The End of Her Honeymoon, this is a take on the urban legend from the 19th century Paris World Exposition which has a missing husband instead of mother & wife instead of daughter is said to have imagined that they even had their loved ones present at a hotel where all employees deny such a person. In Jewsbury's The Half Sisters, the mother becomes ill but is not missing.
Alice and Bianca are unaware of their sisterly connection and lead quite different lives and a chance meeting they become friends, still not knowing. Bianca's life is the main of this intertwined story with her choice of a career raising eyes to many in society where women were expected to be dependent. The characters discuss the roles of females and males which a modern eye reading finds the drastic changes that have occurred. There are many changes some for the better, some not so much.
A life of work verses a life without purpose is not limited to women but the men in how they spend their days and what trouble can boil up.
The story in short - Bianca is poor and works as an actress, where Alice lives a life with monetary riches but deficit in her purpose.
I read this Kindle edition which has a fair amount of typos which I reported, I enjoyed reading nonetheless.
Looking forward to reading her again!💖
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
I loved Bianca's independence and work spirit, her strong passion for Conrad reminded me of her mother's which caused her mental harm. Conrad was likeable at first but I soon wanted Bianca to see the light of his unloving feelings and selfishness. With Conrad's comments about entertainment women being not respectable and wanting a naive women, he looks to ruin another's wife. His morals are quite self serving and changed to suit his deires. Alice's death caused him grief, yet one passage intimidated he had a mistress that refused him the night before he decided to dedicate the rest to helping the unfortunate.
"And, do you know, I was much taken, in London, with a young authoress, Geraldine Jewsbury. You have read her books. There’s a French sort of daring, half-audacious power in them, but she herself is quiet and simple, and drew my heart out of me a good deal. "
I absolutely loved this story and become more enamoured as I read on. I had no idea that this was heading to a direction that I did not foresee which made it quite page turning. At first the sick mother in a foreign country with a young daughter, which reminds me of Marie Belloc Lowndes' The End of Her Honeymoon, this is a take on the urban legend from the 19th century Paris World Exposition which has a missing husband instead of mother & wife instead of daughter is said to have imagined that they even had their loved ones present at a hotel where all employees deny such a person. In Jewsbury's The Half Sisters, the mother becomes ill but is not missing.
Alice and Bianca are unaware of their sisterly connection and lead quite different lives and a chance meeting they become friends, still not knowing. Bianca's life is the main of this intertwined story with her choice of a career raising eyes to many in society where women were expected to be dependent. The characters discuss the roles of females and males which a modern eye reading finds the drastic changes that have occurred. There are many changes some for the better, some not so much.
A life of work verses a life without purpose is not limited to women but the men in how they spend their days and what trouble can boil up.
The story in short - Bianca is poor and works as an actress, where Alice lives a life with monetary riches but deficit in her purpose.
I read this Kindle edition which has a fair amount of typos which I reported, I enjoyed reading nonetheless.
Looking forward to reading her again!💖
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I loved Bianca's independence and work spirit, her strong passion for Conrad reminded me of her mother's which caused her mental harm. Conrad was likeable at first but I soon wanted Bianca to see the light of his unloving feelings and selfishness. With Conrad's comments about entertainment women being not respectable and wanting a naive women, he looks to ruin another's wife. His morals are quite self serving and changed to suit his deires. Alice's death caused him grief, yet one passage intimidated he had a mistress that refused him the night before he decided to dedicate the rest to helping the unfortunate.
June 22, 2010
I think The Half Sisters holds a place with anything that Elizabeth Gaskell or Charlotte Bronte have written, reflecting a deep concern with the plight of women and girls and the limitations imposed by a society that holds them to incredibly lofty standards they do not dare deviate from, because the resulting censure is so damaging. Jewsbury's message is clear and urgently expressed within the framework of her story about half-sisters from diverse backgrounds that struggle within society's conventions. Some of the elements of frustration within Jewsbury's writing echo back to Jane Austen: young women tailored for the marriage market; hardly any means of "respectable" employment; women often lacking independent wealth, etc. But Jewsbury goes deeper into attacking the complete lack of practical education which she feels deliberately warps the spirit of young female individuals and keeps them subservient, docile, perpetual children. She was definitely ahead of her time as a strong, outspoken advocate for women's rights. Overall, the best Victorian novel I've read that takes a deep, incisive look at women (and men) in mid-19th century England.
May 14, 2010
The Half Sisters is an unusual, radical novel of 1848 which contrasts the lives of two half-sisters in Victorian England. Half-Italian, illegitimate Bianca fights poverty by entering into a career on the stage, where she achieves fame, while her sister Alice marries respectably and is trapped in a stultifying existence which deadens her latent intellectual talents.
Through the lives of her two heroines, Jewsbury emphasizes women's need for something real to do. Bianca says late in the book, "I have had work to do, and have done it. I have had a purpose, and have endeavoured to work it out," while Alice's life is blighted by her lack of purpose. Occasionally the narrative bogs down in excessive sermonizing, but Jewsbury's fierce energy keeps it going. Although the ending is disappointingly timid, The Half Sisters is full of life and interesting ideas and characters, well worth reading for those who are interested in lesser-known Victorian novels and in the concept of Victorian womanhood.
Through the lives of her two heroines, Jewsbury emphasizes women's need for something real to do. Bianca says late in the book, "I have had work to do, and have done it. I have had a purpose, and have endeavoured to work it out," while Alice's life is blighted by her lack of purpose. Occasionally the narrative bogs down in excessive sermonizing, but Jewsbury's fierce energy keeps it going. Although the ending is disappointingly timid, The Half Sisters is full of life and interesting ideas and characters, well worth reading for those who are interested in lesser-known Victorian novels and in the concept of Victorian womanhood.
December 11, 2018
Conrad Percy, The Worst Human Man In The Whole World
October 11, 2022
The Half Sisters (1848) is a novel by lesser-known Victorian writer Geraldine Jewsbury whose books are described as feminist, and which often questioned the conventional norms and roles that women at the time were confined to. Jewbury who was a novelist, book reviewer (with around 2,000 reviews to her credit, many for the Athenaeum), and literary figure is best known for her book Zoe: The History of Two Lives. Jewsbury herself was as radical as her writings, rather fond of swearing and wore men’s clothes, much like George Sand. Small and boyish, ugly, yet attractive, Virginia Woolf describes her as intellectually a man, but with a womanly heart. She also was a great reader picking up everything from metaphysics to travels, old books to new books.
I read the Half Sisters over the last month and early this month with a Goodreads group; Both book and author were new to me so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The Half Sisters explores the lives of two half-sisters, daughters of one Philip Helmsby. Bianca is illegitimate and has a typically passionate Italian mother who after suffering heartbreak becomes mentally ill, finally completely breaking down on a trip to England in search of Philip. Bianca now has to take charge, 16 though she is, and finds work at a circus as an actress. Slowly she works her way up, facing challenges and hardships on the way, to being a famous London star. Initially helped by young Conrad Percy, she falls in love with him, but he turns out to be the typical fickle hero, at one point deeply in love with her, only to transfer his affections as soon as they are separated. Bianca meets an older actor who advises her on her career and encourages her on, and also another more appropriate suitor, but does she manage to give up on Conrad? And what of her career at a time when her chosen path was especially frowned upon?
The other sister is legitimate: Alice is 14 when we first meet her, discouraged by her mother from pursuing her interests, or indeed her finer feelings and told that she must only be a helpmeet to her husband. She meets and marries a much older man, Bryant, a businessman. Bryant loves her certainly and treats her well, but there is no real connection between the two for his first priority is his business, and he expects her to occupy herself. But how is she to do so, when she has nothing to occupy her time; denied the attention she wants from her husband and with nothing to do (not even good books to read or society to interact with), she becomes more and more disgruntled.
The two sisters are unaware of each other’s existence, though along the way Bianca does find out. The novel basically explores the very different paths the two take; Bianca left to her own devices takes up a definite career path and soon falls in love with her work wanting to improve and do her best, but she faces challenges in various quarters. Alice on the other hand is on the conventional path, but finds herself restless and lacking purpose. Through the two stories, Jewbury attempts to cast light on the need for women to be educated properly, not simply as ornaments and to be encouraged to have something to occupy them rather than lead purposeless lives which can only lead to disappointment, even doom.
While Jewsbury starts off with an interesting premise as well as commendable objective in critiquing Victorian social mores, after a point, the book ends up rather digressing from the plot in an attempt to deliver her message of the kind of education and guidance women need to have. Rather than letting the story deliver her message, she takes to preaching instead; also, she introduces a couple of characters who serve little other purpose than to do this, even though they are shown to have a connection with the main characters. And then when we seem to get back on track with the plot, once again as part of delivering her message, the plot develops in a direction completely different from what readers might expect the story to be.
Jewsbury gives us an interesting contrast in her protagonists and two engaging threads in their storylines (Bianca’s of course is more so than Alice’s), but she also ends up using a number of stereotypes, perhaps a few too many, whether it is Bianca—on the one hand, genuinely loving her career and devoting herself to improving her art, so much so that she stands up for this before those who disapprove, but on the other, falling into the typical situation of being in love with a completely unsuitable man and being devoted to him despite the signs; later she also takes on an almost angelic role which seems hard to accept in the circumstances that she does; then there is Conrad, who is the typical fickle hero frequently transferring his affections, and bringing about despair for others in more than one way; in his father is the usual disapproving parent out to break their son’s unsuitable relationship, among other things.
This is not to say that the book was a complete disappointment though; Jewbury does manage to cast light on the state of women’s education, the detriment that conventional roles can bring about for women, as also the state of (some) conventional marriages where there was little real connect between the parties. While there are digressions from the plot, we do get a complete story including a romance thread with the usual misunderstandings. And in Bianca, we have a strong character able to take decisions for herself, stand up for her choices, and not give in to Conrad on everything he wishes simply to please him.
Will I read Jewbury again, I’m not very sure, but I am glad I did get a taste of her writing and work in this book.
I read the Half Sisters over the last month and early this month with a Goodreads group; Both book and author were new to me so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The Half Sisters explores the lives of two half-sisters, daughters of one Philip Helmsby. Bianca is illegitimate and has a typically passionate Italian mother who after suffering heartbreak becomes mentally ill, finally completely breaking down on a trip to England in search of Philip. Bianca now has to take charge, 16 though she is, and finds work at a circus as an actress. Slowly she works her way up, facing challenges and hardships on the way, to being a famous London star. Initially helped by young Conrad Percy, she falls in love with him, but he turns out to be the typical fickle hero, at one point deeply in love with her, only to transfer his affections as soon as they are separated. Bianca meets an older actor who advises her on her career and encourages her on, and also another more appropriate suitor, but does she manage to give up on Conrad? And what of her career at a time when her chosen path was especially frowned upon?
The other sister is legitimate: Alice is 14 when we first meet her, discouraged by her mother from pursuing her interests, or indeed her finer feelings and told that she must only be a helpmeet to her husband. She meets and marries a much older man, Bryant, a businessman. Bryant loves her certainly and treats her well, but there is no real connection between the two for his first priority is his business, and he expects her to occupy herself. But how is she to do so, when she has nothing to occupy her time; denied the attention she wants from her husband and with nothing to do (not even good books to read or society to interact with), she becomes more and more disgruntled.
The two sisters are unaware of each other’s existence, though along the way Bianca does find out. The novel basically explores the very different paths the two take; Bianca left to her own devices takes up a definite career path and soon falls in love with her work wanting to improve and do her best, but she faces challenges in various quarters. Alice on the other hand is on the conventional path, but finds herself restless and lacking purpose. Through the two stories, Jewbury attempts to cast light on the need for women to be educated properly, not simply as ornaments and to be encouraged to have something to occupy them rather than lead purposeless lives which can only lead to disappointment, even doom.
While Jewsbury starts off with an interesting premise as well as commendable objective in critiquing Victorian social mores, after a point, the book ends up rather digressing from the plot in an attempt to deliver her message of the kind of education and guidance women need to have. Rather than letting the story deliver her message, she takes to preaching instead; also, she introduces a couple of characters who serve little other purpose than to do this, even though they are shown to have a connection with the main characters. And then when we seem to get back on track with the plot, once again as part of delivering her message, the plot develops in a direction completely different from what readers might expect the story to be.
Jewsbury gives us an interesting contrast in her protagonists and two engaging threads in their storylines (Bianca’s of course is more so than Alice’s), but she also ends up using a number of stereotypes, perhaps a few too many, whether it is Bianca—on the one hand, genuinely loving her career and devoting herself to improving her art, so much so that she stands up for this before those who disapprove, but on the other, falling into the typical situation of being in love with a completely unsuitable man and being devoted to him despite the signs; later she also takes on an almost angelic role which seems hard to accept in the circumstances that she does; then there is Conrad, who is the typical fickle hero frequently transferring his affections, and bringing about despair for others in more than one way; in his father is the usual disapproving parent out to break their son’s unsuitable relationship, among other things.
This is not to say that the book was a complete disappointment though; Jewbury does manage to cast light on the state of women’s education, the detriment that conventional roles can bring about for women, as also the state of (some) conventional marriages where there was little real connect between the parties. While there are digressions from the plot, we do get a complete story including a romance thread with the usual misunderstandings. And in Bianca, we have a strong character able to take decisions for herself, stand up for her choices, and not give in to Conrad on everything he wishes simply to please him.
Will I read Jewbury again, I’m not very sure, but I am glad I did get a taste of her writing and work in this book.
October 30, 2020
Overall, this was a refreshing Victorian novel, as it did not look down upon illegitimate children or actors. Bianca was very career minded and wanted to elevate her profession's status in society. Jewsbury's writing style was overall accessible, though at times overwritten, especially when describing the inner lives of her characters. However, the novel favored Bianca's story far more than Alice's. I had not expected this unevenness, and I think it was to the detriment of one of the story's more dramatic moments. Conrad was an annoying character who had far too high of a word count. Bianca had no flaws, which became frustrating at times. I also didn't appreciate the melodrama throughout this novel. For example, a character kisses the bloody palm of another so not a drop of the blood is wasted..... I did enjoy the short chapters, well-rounded representation of female characters and feminist discussions on female morality and women's statuses in Victorian society.
June 16, 2024
Somewhere between 3 and a half and 4 stars,l think this book really needed some extra editing,as l found some repetitions and long,useless explanations, besides some of the characters fall victim of the same illnesses or fate,and l would personally have preferred more interaction between the two sisters.However,it is quite an interesting and original book,worth reading if you are interested in Victorian novels.
December 18, 2016
3,5 rounded to 4
Highly enjoybale and thought provoking. Some passages can be dull but overall I liked it very much.
You can't help but root for Bianca for the very beginning and to feel sorry for Alice. So much comtrast in personality and destiny. I wonder how this book was received by the rigid victorian society.
Highly enjoybale and thought provoking. Some passages can be dull but overall I liked it very much.
You can't help but root for Bianca for the very beginning and to feel sorry for Alice. So much comtrast in personality and destiny. I wonder how this book was received by the rigid victorian society.
June 3, 2019
Geraldine Jewsbury is now my favorite Victorian author, and tied with Jane Austen as my favorite author of all time-- a genius, with so much thought put into her characters and message throughout the book. An absolutely amazing read!
October 31, 2017
I really liked how the role of women duribg the mid 19th century was portrayed in my last read for Victober.
April 22, 2021
Excellent read.
Superb commentary on women of that era and their so-called stations in life but yet an actual storyline that would hold up today.
Superb commentary on women of that era and their so-called stations in life but yet an actual storyline that would hold up today.
October 14, 2022
Great first half. The book should be called The Half Sister. Second half became polemical and introduced secondary characters who then took center stage.
November 29, 2020
4.5 stars
This was a really interesting Victorian novel. I loved how Jewsbury wrote about topics such as the theatre, women's occupation and marriage. From time to time it was oddly paced and I would have liked to read more from Alice's perspective but all in all, a great read and one I think about often.
This was a really interesting Victorian novel. I loved how Jewsbury wrote about topics such as the theatre, women's occupation and marriage. From time to time it was oddly paced and I would have liked to read more from Alice's perspective but all in all, a great read and one I think about often.
June 12, 2016
Born of the same father but unaware of each others existence, Alice Helmsby is brought up in idle English wealth, Bianca Pazzi in rustic Italian poverty.
Alice is destined to be married into a good family and want nothing more than to be a supportive wife, a docility which proves fatal to her 'morbid conscientiousness, which made her painfully anxious to do right, without ever feeling satisfied with any of her own actions'.
Bianca has to make her own way in the world, which she does as an actress, a profession frowned upon in the mid-19th century. But it offers her an outlet for her energies and way to develop herself. As she observes:
"I should have found no opening for my energies in the smoothly-compacted surface of female existence."
Conrad Percy, a generally good-natured young man who becomes a sort of long-distance patron to Bianca as she starts her stage career from the bottom, will eventually cause pain to both half sisters.
Alice is made weak and nervous by the ennui which results from her life as a pampered daughter and respectable wife, whereas Bianca, born into a life of vagabondage, has the strength and occupation required to survive disappointment.
Within a couple of pages of The half Sisters you know you're in good, wise hands, with that composed and refined sensibility that can only be found in the very best Victorian writers.
The author herself is a constant presence, commentating throughout with much perspicacity in elegantly written observations, most notably about the unfulfilled nature of women's role in society, personified by Alice.
Written a decade before George Elliot truly broke the mould, Jewsbury clearly had a similar intention, to shatter what Lord Melton, an admirer of Bianca, denigrates as "rose-coloured imitation-virtue" in the contemporary novel.
The plotting also offered up one or two surprises for a novel of it's time. Sure, coincidence played a part, but at one stage Jewsbury introduced a rich father who opposes a match and I thought, "Here we go, the remaining course of the story is set," only to kill him off a few chapters later!
jewsbury lived a fairly unconventional life herself, having relationships with both men and women, including the actress Charlotte Cushman.
Alice is destined to be married into a good family and want nothing more than to be a supportive wife, a docility which proves fatal to her 'morbid conscientiousness, which made her painfully anxious to do right, without ever feeling satisfied with any of her own actions'.
Bianca has to make her own way in the world, which she does as an actress, a profession frowned upon in the mid-19th century. But it offers her an outlet for her energies and way to develop herself. As she observes:
"I should have found no opening for my energies in the smoothly-compacted surface of female existence."
Conrad Percy, a generally good-natured young man who becomes a sort of long-distance patron to Bianca as she starts her stage career from the bottom, will eventually cause pain to both half sisters.
Alice is made weak and nervous by the ennui which results from her life as a pampered daughter and respectable wife, whereas Bianca, born into a life of vagabondage, has the strength and occupation required to survive disappointment.
Within a couple of pages of The half Sisters you know you're in good, wise hands, with that composed and refined sensibility that can only be found in the very best Victorian writers.
The author herself is a constant presence, commentating throughout with much perspicacity in elegantly written observations, most notably about the unfulfilled nature of women's role in society, personified by Alice.
Written a decade before George Elliot truly broke the mould, Jewsbury clearly had a similar intention, to shatter what Lord Melton, an admirer of Bianca, denigrates as "rose-coloured imitation-virtue" in the contemporary novel.
The plotting also offered up one or two surprises for a novel of it's time. Sure, coincidence played a part, but at one stage Jewsbury introduced a rich father who opposes a match and I thought, "Here we go, the remaining course of the story is set," only to kill him off a few chapters later!
jewsbury lived a fairly unconventional life herself, having relationships with both men and women, including the actress Charlotte Cushman.
August 2, 2015
I'd heard of Jewsbury as a friend of Jane Carlyle's, and perhaps some of the other eminent Victorians, and picked up her novel at some point because it was unusual to run across it. It's refreshing to see a Victorian novel that privileges a heroine who actually does something with her life, and doesn't condemn her for a) being on the stage, b) being illegitimate, and c) being the daughter of an Italian woman and a British man. Unfortunately, Bianca's unknowing half-sister, the legitimate Alice, is set up as the exemplar of what happens when women have no real purpose in life: her husband, who genuinely loves her, is completely wrapped up in his work and with no children and no other interests, Alice's life is a lonely void. Despite the novel's feminism, there are some strange assumptions about women, and a few of the characters are too good to be true -- but it is a Victorian novel, after all, and it does some interesting things.
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