The Daughters of Danaus

In a dimly lit Scottish garret, siblings gather in secret to debate fate, freedom, and the absurdities of their parents' expectations. This is the Preposterous Society, and among them is Hadria Fullerton: brilliant, furious, and determined to become a composer in Paris. She will be stopped. Her sister will escape to London and a decent marriage. Both will survive. Mona Caird's 1894 novel follows two sisters through the crushing machinery of Victorian family life, where talent is squandered and ambition is treated as rebellion. But unlike the tragic heroines of her contemporaries, Hadria does not break. She refuses to disappear. Wickedly funny, surprisingly modern, and anchored by a trailblazing essay on marriage that scandalized readers, this is a novel about what it costs to want more than the world offers women, and what remains when the bill comes due.