Having blogged about the subject of female writers’ friendships for the past two years, we’re delighted to have now been given the chance to explore this fascinating subject in much greater depth.
Our book, A Secret Sisterhood, will look at the literary bonds between Jane Austen and amateur playwright, Anne Sharp; Charlotte Brontë and feminist author, Mary Taylor; George Eliot and Harriet Beecher Stowe; and Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield.
A Secret Sisterhood will be published, by Aurum Press in the UK and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the USA, in late 2017. The year coincides with the bicentenary of Jane Austen’s death.
An announcement appears in the Bookseller today, and we’ll look forward to sharing more details about these trailblazing relationships with our readers over the coming months.
As many of you know, it was our own writing friendship that first sparked our interest in these historical creative pairings. But it was the support we’ve received from Something Rhymed readers that encouraged us that there would be an audience for this book and convinced us to start writing it together.
So, thank you. We are both extremely grateful to all our Something Rhymed friends.
Remember
We’ll soon be following up on last month’s conversation about Jane Austen’s Emma with a new post on The Absentee by Maria Edgeworth – a novel that Austen enjoyed discussing with her friend, Anne Sharp. Over the coming months, we’ll look forward to sharing our thoughts on other books by, or associated with, the authors we’ll write about in A Secret Sisterhood.
Something Rhymed 
Congratulations to both of you! 2017 sounds perfect.
Thank you, Sarah. We are both really enjoying the Emma In The Snow series on your blog.
Congratulations again, very much looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of this!
Thank you so much, Alice.
Congratulations! Can’t wait to read it.
Thanks so much, Rebekah. It’s really nice to hear from you. We hope your writing is going really well.
well done you – looking forward to reading book:)
Thanks so much, Ross. We both really appreciate those good wishes. I hope you are well.
Congratulations to you both, I’ll definitely be reading it!
Thanks so much, Andrea. We hope you’ll enjoy it.
“illicit, scandalous and volatile; sometimes supportive, radical or inspiring….”
Bring it on…..can’t wait to be let in to the more private worlds of these great women.
Congratulations Emily, Emma!
Thanks for commenting, Virginia. We really appreciate your enthusiasm. We look forward to sharing these stories with you.
Fantastic news! Your blog has been a much-needed reminder of all the literary friendships between women that had been overshadowed by those between men. A Secret Sisterhood is going to be wonderful – and a celebration of your own friendship too. I look forward to buying a copy!
Thanks Ali. That’s much appreciated. We look forward to reading more of your writing too in the future.
So happy to hear the news is now official! Congratulations, Emma and Emily. This is so well-deserved and I cannot wait to read the book.
Many thanks for your support, Emily. We both really appreciate it.