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Courting Disaster: Reading Between the Lines of the Regency Novel
What do #MeToo and Jane Austen have in common? More than you might think.
Ever since the novel was invented, women have used it as a platform for sharing ideas about sexual consent. Dr Zoë McGee reveals how Jane Austen, Frances Burney and their now-overlooked contemporaries used their stories to try to change society’s mind about rape culture – and to reassure survivors they were not alone.
Courting Disaster takes a timely deep-dive into a series of classic novels, comparing them with both historic court records and current events to show that our arguments about consent are not a new phenomenon. With the wit and wryness of a courtship novel, McGee reads between the lines to unveil a quiet feminist movement that still resonates today. Because every novel about marriage is also a novel about consent.
In an era that’s clamouring for a return to the values of the past, Courting Disaster asks what that would really mean, and whether anyone actually liked it back then anyway…
Ever since the novel was invented, women have used it as a platform for sharing ideas about sexual consent. Dr Zoë McGee reveals how Jane Austen, Frances Burney and their now-overlooked contemporaries used their stories to try to change society’s mind about rape culture – and to reassure survivors they were not alone.
Courting Disaster takes a timely deep-dive into a series of classic novels, comparing them with both historic court records and current events to show that our arguments about consent are not a new phenomenon. With the wit and wryness of a courtship novel, McGee reads between the lines to unveil a quiet feminist movement that still resonates today. Because every novel about marriage is also a novel about consent.
In an era that’s clamouring for a return to the values of the past, Courting Disaster asks what that would really mean, and whether anyone actually liked it back then anyway…
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
336 pages, Hardcover
Published November 4, 2025
2 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 21, 2025
This book has a clear post-#MeToo agenda which I didn't always find helpful. Having said that, it is scholarly and interesting and insightful. I always appreciate Burney being talked about alongside Austen and I really enjoyed those chapters. I also very much appreciate the choice to write excellent scholarship in an accessible style and in a commercially published book so that people who would not choose to read an obscure academic article have access to the same ideas. Occasionally this informality comes across as trying too hard but overall it is successful.
October 23, 2025
This is a long review, buckle up!
This book succeeds in its aim of bringing eighteenth-century stories into modern discussions about consent. It does so with an extraordinary level of research, respect, appreciation, and a sharp sense of humour along the way.
I loved how this book introduced me to novels I had never heard of before. I was hesitant at first, as such works can sometimes become dense, filled with endless quotations just to fill the pages. However, Zoe McGee writes with such focus and precision that it feels more like reading a well-crafted review, always tied beautifully to her central argument. The fact that I now want to read a thousand-page novel is proof of how effective her approach is. The analysis is impeccable.
A few chapters depart from the main structure of using a novel to explore the complexities of consent, instead relying on facts, statistics, and previous essays on the subject. These turned out to be some of my favourite sections. Despite the rawness and honesty with which McGee addresses such a difficult topic as rape, she does so with remarkable strength and clarity. I found myself highlighting sentence after sentence, wanting to keep them in my mind forever. By the end of these chapters, she seamlessly ties everything back to her central argument, which is deeply satisfying.
The final section, where the much-anticipated Austen novels appear, is a welcome conclusion. The tone lightens somewhat (though there are still dreadful men, at least there are no carriage kidnappings in Austen’s world). It genuinely left me excited to revisit Austen’s works, now through the lens of consent and relationships that McGee has opened my eyes to.
I must also note the book’s depth when discussing sexual assault. It draws strong parallels with contemporary cases and politics, and I completely agree with McGee’s perspective. This is what makes the book so powerful. Understanding these stories is vital to understanding today’s realities. What women experience now is not new, and if some people struggle to grasp the importance of these issues, handing them a story like this might help them see it more clearly.
This book succeeds in its aim of bringing eighteenth-century stories into modern discussions about consent. It does so with an extraordinary level of research, respect, appreciation, and a sharp sense of humour along the way.
I loved how this book introduced me to novels I had never heard of before. I was hesitant at first, as such works can sometimes become dense, filled with endless quotations just to fill the pages. However, Zoe McGee writes with such focus and precision that it feels more like reading a well-crafted review, always tied beautifully to her central argument. The fact that I now want to read a thousand-page novel is proof of how effective her approach is. The analysis is impeccable.
A few chapters depart from the main structure of using a novel to explore the complexities of consent, instead relying on facts, statistics, and previous essays on the subject. These turned out to be some of my favourite sections. Despite the rawness and honesty with which McGee addresses such a difficult topic as rape, she does so with remarkable strength and clarity. I found myself highlighting sentence after sentence, wanting to keep them in my mind forever. By the end of these chapters, she seamlessly ties everything back to her central argument, which is deeply satisfying.
The final section, where the much-anticipated Austen novels appear, is a welcome conclusion. The tone lightens somewhat (though there are still dreadful men, at least there are no carriage kidnappings in Austen’s world). It genuinely left me excited to revisit Austen’s works, now through the lens of consent and relationships that McGee has opened my eyes to.
I must also note the book’s depth when discussing sexual assault. It draws strong parallels with contemporary cases and politics, and I completely agree with McGee’s perspective. This is what makes the book so powerful. Understanding these stories is vital to understanding today’s realities. What women experience now is not new, and if some people struggle to grasp the importance of these issues, handing them a story like this might help them see it more clearly.
January 16, 2026
This was a very fascinating read. I had the pleasure of attending Zoe's talk with Q&A following the release of this book. I admire the amount of research she had put into this big literary piece. She analysed several major works from the 18th and early 19th centuries - I didn't know about most of them and have put several books on my TBR.
The author went quite deep into her analysis, and while it was very interesting and made me think deeply, it's also important to mention that we must always keep in mind that we will never truly know what the authors meant - no matter how hard we analyse their work, we always analyse it with the lenses of our modern world with its problems.
Some chapters felt quite a lot like summary of major classical works. While I enjoyed it, there's also a fine line between enjoying the summary of a large book and feeling as if the book is spoiled for you because you now know too much - in certain instances, Zoe pretty much described the entire plot. This is of course not a problem to someone who has read those works.
Overall, a good, interesting read.
The author went quite deep into her analysis, and while it was very interesting and made me think deeply, it's also important to mention that we must always keep in mind that we will never truly know what the authors meant - no matter how hard we analyse their work, we always analyse it with the lenses of our modern world with its problems.
Some chapters felt quite a lot like summary of major classical works. While I enjoyed it, there's also a fine line between enjoying the summary of a large book and feeling as if the book is spoiled for you because you now know too much - in certain instances, Zoe pretty much described the entire plot. This is of course not a problem to someone who has read those works.
Overall, a good, interesting read.
November 26, 2025
Enjoyable literary survey that proves not a lot has changed for women in the past 400 years, unfortunately. Also made me really want to read "Clarissa" and "Cecelia."
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews