Evelyn Sharp Rebel Woman, 1869-1955 [Paperback]

This is the first biography of a remarkable writer and incorrigible rebel. Evelyn Sharp's story encapsulates the shifts in opportunities for talented Victorian women who survived into the mid-twentieth century.

She was born into a privileged family in 1869 and became a very popular writer of schoolgirl fiction. Extremely versatile, she also produced fairy tales alongside stories for the infamous 'Yellow Book'. A Manchester Guardian journalist for over four decades, Evelyn Sharp became the first regular contributor to its iconic Women's Page. Before and during the First World War she was a leading suffragette, editing the newspaper, 'Votes for Women'.

This biography draws on Evelyn Sharp's publications, as well as letter and diaries vividly describing experiences such as famine relief in Soviet Russia and daily life in wartime Kensington for and elderly woman. It will be of interest to gender and social historians as well as to those interested in children's and women's literature.

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Evelyn Sharp's Life

Introducing the Rebel Woman

1 From Evie to Becky Sharp

2 Writing for the young

3 Fellow traveller: meeting Henry Nevinson

4 Words in Deed: women's suffrage

5 Working with war

6 The relief of peace: in Weimar Germany

7 Irish Rebels

8 Somewhere in Russia: fiction and famine

9 Still rebelling: women, writing and politics in the 1920s

10 The Child Grows Up: configuring childhood in the inter-war years

11 Defying time and the times

12 War and widowhood: Chipping Campden and Kensington

Appendix 1 Evelyn Sharp's major publications

Appendix 2 The Cheap Holiday. A short story by Evelyn Sharp.

Angela V. John is Honorary Professor of History at Aberystwyth University