Chartist Fiction

<p>First published in 2001. When the Chartist leader Ernest Jones emerged from prison in 1850 he was determined to capture the public's attention with a controversial and topical novel. The result of his endeavours was the remarkable <i>Woman's Wrongs</i> a series of five tales exploring women's oppression at every level of society from the working class to the aristocracy. Each story presents a graphic often harrowing account of the social economic and emotional victimization of women and taken together the tales comprise a devastating indictment of Victorian patriarchal attitudes and sexual inequalities. </p><p>In his substantial Introduction Ian Haywood places the novel in the context of Jones's career as a Chartist author and editor and in the wider context of the 'woman question'. Some of the topics covered by the Introduction include: the radical press and popular enlightenment Jones's rivalry with George W. M. Reynolds and the needlewoman as radical icon. This title will be of interest to students of history. </p>