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The Spinster and the Prophet: Florence Deeks, H.G. Wells, and the Mystery of the Purloined Past
Winner of the UBC Medal for Biography and shortlisted for the Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize.
The prolific novelist and social prophet H.G. Wells had a way with words, and usually he had his way with women. That is, until he encountered the feisty Toronto spinster Florence Deeks. In 1925 Miss Deeks launched a $500,000 lawsuit against Wells, claiming that in an act of "literary piracy," Wells had somehow come to use her manuscript history of the world in the writing of his international bestseller The Outline of History , a work still in print today. Thus began one of the most sensational and extraordinary cases in Anglo-Canadian publishing and legal history.
In this riveting literary whodunit, A.B. McKillop unfolds the parallel stories of two Edwardian figures and the ambition to capture the sweep of history that possessed them both: H.G. Wells was the celebrated writer of autobiographical fiction and futuristic fantasy who, at the end of the Great War, preached the need for a global world order. Florence Deeks was a modest teacher and amateur student of history who intended to correct traditional scholarship's neglect by writing an account of civilization that stressed the contributions of women. Her manuscript was submitted to the venerable Macmillan Company in Canada but was rejected and never published. Wells's opus, completed in an astonishingly short period, was released by the same firm in North America the year following.
As the mystery deepens and new evidence is revealed, it seems that the verdict of the courts in Deeks vs Wells may not be that of history. The cast of characters is as intriguing as it is wide in Canada, the United States, and England: renowned publishers and editors, eminent lawyers and judges, leading journalists and all-seeing office secretaries. Not all, it turns out, merited their reputations.
Above all, the tale embraces the lives of the philandering Mr. Wells, his wife, and his mistresses, and the scarcely noted Miss Florence Deeks, her family, her life's work, and her search for justice.
From the Hardcover edition.
The prolific novelist and social prophet H.G. Wells had a way with words, and usually he had his way with women. That is, until he encountered the feisty Toronto spinster Florence Deeks. In 1925 Miss Deeks launched a $500,000 lawsuit against Wells, claiming that in an act of "literary piracy," Wells had somehow come to use her manuscript history of the world in the writing of his international bestseller The Outline of History , a work still in print today. Thus began one of the most sensational and extraordinary cases in Anglo-Canadian publishing and legal history.
In this riveting literary whodunit, A.B. McKillop unfolds the parallel stories of two Edwardian figures and the ambition to capture the sweep of history that possessed them both: H.G. Wells was the celebrated writer of autobiographical fiction and futuristic fantasy who, at the end of the Great War, preached the need for a global world order. Florence Deeks was a modest teacher and amateur student of history who intended to correct traditional scholarship's neglect by writing an account of civilization that stressed the contributions of women. Her manuscript was submitted to the venerable Macmillan Company in Canada but was rejected and never published. Wells's opus, completed in an astonishingly short period, was released by the same firm in North America the year following.
As the mystery deepens and new evidence is revealed, it seems that the verdict of the courts in Deeks vs Wells may not be that of history. The cast of characters is as intriguing as it is wide in Canada, the United States, and England: renowned publishers and editors, eminent lawyers and judges, leading journalists and all-seeing office secretaries. Not all, it turns out, merited their reputations.
Above all, the tale embraces the lives of the philandering Mr. Wells, his wife, and his mistresses, and the scarcely noted Miss Florence Deeks, her family, her life's work, and her search for justice.
From the Hardcover edition.
613 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2000
3 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 16, 2010
I am not a big science fiction fan, so H.G. Wells, while I certainly read him and was socially aware of him, was not an author for whom I had any great affinity. But it was nevertheless disappointing to realize that he was a completely unlikeable, self-absorbed, trivial, priapic worm. Add to it that he may well have been a plagiarist who stole words knowing the person whose words he stole would likely have no recourse because she was not famous, had little money of her own, and most importantly, because she was a she and not a he, and it would appear H.G. Wells was a vile little man in many respects. Read my entire review here.
January 24, 2020
I did not know anything about the Deeks v. Wells case and I found the case itself to be very interesting. However, the author's description of the events are overly redundant. He starts by describing the facts initially (i.e., when Ms. Deeks realized that "The Web" had been plagiariazed), then, he goes over the facts a few more times when comparisons between books were done by "authorities", each time a trial takes place, ... Finally, in the last chapter "Voices", the author describes a sequence of events that could explain how Wells got to have "The Web" in his possession but he does not state that this is conjecture. In short, this is a good but bad book.
January 14, 2011
Themes: intellectual rights, gender roles, marriage, women's rights, suffrage, sexism, free love, Canadian history, publishing, fame
Setting: Toronto and London, early 20th century
I picked this up because of the title, but I brought it home because I had just finished The War of the Worlds. The book is about an obscure female writer, Florence Deeks, who accused H G Wells of plagiarizing large portions of his World History book from her unpublished manuscript. The writer starts by profiling each party in the lawsuit, first Wells, then Deeks, then back to Wells for a bit, and so on. I certainly learned much that I had never heard before about Wells. I was really only familiar with his science fiction writing, although I had heard the titles of another book or two. But I had no idea what a ladies' man he was. He was a fervent advocate of free love and Fabianism, had at least one illegitimate child, and made his wife extremely unhappy by the way he couldn't stay away from other women. The worst part was the way that he wrote books about his affairs, only halfway hiding their identities, and then published them for the whole world to read. His regular publisher even had to refuse a couple of books as too racy to handle, thinking more of lawsuits and poor taste that actual content.
So what's the verdict? Did he steal her work? Well, sadly, that's where this book got boring. I really didn't care about the state of Canadian publishing at the time, the characters involved, or long passages comparing sections sentence by sentence. I also especially didn't care about the court cases. I just wanted a summary of that, and more of the personalities involved. It was interesting to learn about Canada at the time, but get on with the verdict! The court decided in favor of the man, naturally, but the writer and the reader will probably disagree.
If you are a fan of Wells, I think you might enjoy at least looking through this one. Otherwise, I would stay away. It was somewhat interesting, but would have been much better if the focus had stayed on the people and not strayed so far into details. 2.5 stars.
Setting: Toronto and London, early 20th century
I picked this up because of the title, but I brought it home because I had just finished The War of the Worlds. The book is about an obscure female writer, Florence Deeks, who accused H G Wells of plagiarizing large portions of his World History book from her unpublished manuscript. The writer starts by profiling each party in the lawsuit, first Wells, then Deeks, then back to Wells for a bit, and so on. I certainly learned much that I had never heard before about Wells. I was really only familiar with his science fiction writing, although I had heard the titles of another book or two. But I had no idea what a ladies' man he was. He was a fervent advocate of free love and Fabianism, had at least one illegitimate child, and made his wife extremely unhappy by the way he couldn't stay away from other women. The worst part was the way that he wrote books about his affairs, only halfway hiding their identities, and then published them for the whole world to read. His regular publisher even had to refuse a couple of books as too racy to handle, thinking more of lawsuits and poor taste that actual content.
So what's the verdict? Did he steal her work? Well, sadly, that's where this book got boring. I really didn't care about the state of Canadian publishing at the time, the characters involved, or long passages comparing sections sentence by sentence. I also especially didn't care about the court cases. I just wanted a summary of that, and more of the personalities involved. It was interesting to learn about Canada at the time, but get on with the verdict! The court decided in favor of the man, naturally, but the writer and the reader will probably disagree.
If you are a fan of Wells, I think you might enjoy at least looking through this one. Otherwise, I would stay away. It was somewhat interesting, but would have been much better if the focus had stayed on the people and not strayed so far into details. 2.5 stars.
February 20, 2012
This account is a little known story of how H.G. Wells was accused of plagiarizing from the manuscript of a women from Canada in his Outline of the History of the World. While her accusation was never accepted by the courts, this tale chronicles the journey of both people and the conflict between them and the publishing house in the middle. The book is most interesting for its account a rarely mentioned historical fact. It however is longer than necessary and provides far too much unnecessary background, unrelated to the story at hand.
Want to read
April 16, 2013(I'm aware from various reader reviews that the case presented against Wells in this book is very weak but I'm interested in the story of this lawsuit and how Florence Deeks is now regarded - perhaps without justification - as a Canadian heroine to some (e.g. in 100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces).)
January 11, 2010
A very interesting book as it reveals in detail how women were perceived and treated in the 1915-30s. An unknown, Toronto, female student of history seeks justice through the Canadian and British courts. She has little chance of success pitted against lawyers, a renowned publishing company, editors and the famous H. G. Wells.
June 21, 2011
Fairly ponderous story telling with a totally anti-climactic ending. You're left wondering why the author chose this topic. Some interesting period scenes save it from one star.
April 8, 2017
Meh. I got halfway through, and gave up. I love history and law, but it was so dry I couldn't keep my eyes open.
One thing I did learn is that H.G. Wells was a man-whore, emotionally abused his wife, (He told her change her name to Jane, from Catherine because she was supposed to be diminished as a person and her only duties were to fetch and carry for him. His lovers who gave him at least 2 children, were treated much better but, constantly believed him, when he said he would dump his wife. But he wouldn't. Too much of a mummy complex. When he wanted to party, he would leave Jane for weeks, with one of his girlfriends. Then when he got tired of that, he would flee back to Jane. (Sometimes all three, would live in the same house.)
As the years went by he got even insane. I believe he, (Macmillan London and Canada helped), plagiarized Florence's book. But she was screwed over because she was a woman. She had years of research between the two books. Her lawyers sucked.
I have never read an H.G. Wells book....never will.
One thing I did learn is that H.G. Wells was a man-whore, emotionally abused his wife, (He told her change her name to Jane, from Catherine because she was supposed to be diminished as a person and her only duties were to fetch and carry for him. His lovers who gave him at least 2 children, were treated much better but, constantly believed him, when he said he would dump his wife. But he wouldn't. Too much of a mummy complex. When he wanted to party, he would leave Jane for weeks, with one of his girlfriends. Then when he got tired of that, he would flee back to Jane. (Sometimes all three, would live in the same house.)
As the years went by he got even insane. I believe he, (Macmillan London and Canada helped), plagiarized Florence's book. But she was screwed over because she was a woman. She had years of research between the two books. Her lawyers sucked.
I have never read an H.G. Wells book....never will.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews