6 Quotes by Charlotte Gordon

The real problem, said Mary, was not women, but how men wanted women to be.

If a female fainted easily, could not abide spiders, feared thunderstorms, ghosts, and highwaymen, ate only tiny portions, collapsed after a brief walk, and wept when she had to add a column of numbers, she was considered the feminine ideal.

Never had the town been rocked by so many outlandish escapades. One of Byron’s servants stabbed a man.

Who else sat on a wet rock, naked, reading ancient Greek?

Godwin was also of little practical assistance. He had calculated his living expenses down to the last penny, sometimes having to borrow a few pounds to make ends meet. He had never intended to assume the financial responsibility of a family, declaring that such obligations blighted the freedom of the male intellectual.

Both mother and daughter attempted to free themselves from the stranglehold of polite society, and both struggled to balance their need for love and companionship with their need for independence.