Jill, Vol. 1 (of 2)

Jill Trecastle is twenty-three and thoroughly bored with the limited horizons available to young women in Victorian England. When her parents pack her off to Wales for the summer, she sees it not as a punishment but as an escape, a chance to finally experience real adventure. Dillwyn's novel follows Jill's awakening as she challenges the expectations placed upon her, questions the institution of marriage, and demands to know why women should be denied the same freedoms as men. The novel crackles with intelligence and wit, presenting a protagonist who refuses to accept the cramped future society has mapped out for her. Originally dismissed as eccentric humor in the vein of The Diary of a Nobody, Jill has since been recognized as a foundational text of early feminist literature, one that posed questions about female autonomy and independence that still resonate today.