Mrs. Warren's Daughter: A Story of the Woman's Movement

In June 1900, Vivien Warren runs a successful actuarial firm and has a plan: study law, practice it under a man's name, and never be held back by her mother's scandalous past. When an old lover reappears with a marriage proposal, Vivien must choose between the safe path of domesticity and the radical one she has carved out for herself. But the real question is whether any woman can truly escape the shadows cast by society's judgments. This sequel to George Bernard Shaw's controversial play follows its heroine's daughter into the heart of the Edwardian women's movement, where financial independence is revolutionary, professional ambition is suspect, and identity itself becomes a disguise. Through Vivien and her partner Honoria Fraser, Johnston crafts a nuanced portrait of women building their own structures in a world designed to exclude them. The novel asks what freedom costs when the price is always paid in pieces of yourself you must hide.