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Ann Veronica

by H.G. Wells, Sita Schutt (Editor), Margaret Drabble (Introduction)

3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 · rating details · 321 ratings · 34 reviews

At twenty-one, the passionate and headstrong Ann Veronica Stanley is determined to rule her own life. When her autocratic father forbids her, via formal letter, from attending a fashionable art-school ball, and even further refuses to allow her advanced study of science, she decides she has no choice but to leave her family home and make a fresh start alone. She escapes th...more

Paperback, 352 pages

Published March 31st 2005 by Penguin Books Limited (first published 1909)

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Sep 18, 2009 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: family-life-and-relationships

Ann Veronica is the youngest of five children and the only one left at home. Finding a life of "calls, tennis, selected novels, walks and dusting" to be stifling, she has persuaded her father to let her attend college, although only the Tredgold Women's College, not the more prestigious "mixed" college that she wants to attend. In time the limited intellectual stimulation provided by Tredgold's "store of faded learning" isn't enough for her and she begins to want more out of her life. Having had...more Ann Veronica is the youngest of five children and the only one left at home. Finding a life of "calls, tennis, selected novels, walks and dusting" to be stifling, she has persuaded her father to let her attend college, although only the Tredgold Women's College, not the more prestigious "mixed" college that she wants to attend. In time the limited intellectual stimulation provided by Tredgold's "store of faded learning" isn't enough for her and she begins to want more out of her life. Having had no luck persuading her father to let her transfer to the Imperial College, she turns her attention to attending a fancy dress party at a local art school. Her father disapproves completely and his absolute refusal to let her go to the party pushes her into open rebellion. Against all sensible advice, she moves to London to live on her own and make her own way in the world.

Although it wears the fashionable dress of 1909, Ann Veronica is essentially a coming of age story that can speak on a basic level to young people of any generation. Longing for a different life and chafing against her father's rules, Ann Veronica shocks her father with the accusation that "you won't let me live...you won't let me exist!" And, like any perplexed parent, Mr. Stanley replies that she does live, she does exist, in fact she has all the important things a respectable person could want: "friends, acquaintances, social standing,...every advantage." These things are important to him and, as he feels is his duty as a good parent, he has provided them for Ann Veronica. What more is it that she wants? He cannot understand that what is important to him is less so to his daughter,at least in part because she has been kept in ignorance of how much effort these things were to attain and to keep. Later in the novel, at one of her lowest moments, Ann Veronica thinks back over what she had taken for granted and comes to the conclusion that "the real texture of life" has been forgotten by "refined secure people" who "think if we just defy the friends we have and go out into the world everything will become easy and splendid. One doesn't realize that even the sort of civilization one has at [her suburban home:] is held together with difficulty."

I had some concern that Wells would feel the need to end the book on a "moral" note by showing the reader the error of Ann Veronica's rebellion, but that is not his goal and his ultimate message seems to be that "rules are for established things, like the pieces and positions of a game. Men and women are not established things; they're experiements, all the them. Every human being is a new thing..."

Although Wells is amazingly modern in his thinking about women's rights, he is enough a product of his time that his heroine's idea of freedom is "to be legally and economically free, so as not to be subject to the wrong man" while still believing that "only God, who made the world, can alter things to prevent her being slave to the right one." In the end, Ann Veronica finds love and Wells demonstrates that it is a true love by telling us that "one of the things that most surprised [him:] was her capacity for blind obedience. She loved to be told to do things." This statement is completely out of character for Ann Veronica, but is given to the reader as proof that her love is real and that she has found the "right" man.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable book and reminded me at times of Dreiser's Sister Carrie. I read it online at Google Books, but I liked it enough that I want to own a copy myself and have added it to my wishlist.(less)

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Nov 22, 2012 Mel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 20th-century-fiction, edwardian-lit

Wells hasn't written many books with a female protagonist and while I didn't agree with everything that he wrote in this one, it was nice to see him attempt to look at the ideas of feminism, and the suffragettes. It was also interesting to see it interwoven with his own semi-autobiographical novels but from the other point of view. Ann Veronica was a young woman, 21, living at home and dominated by her father at the beginning of the 20th century. She was wanting to go and study biology at Imperi...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Lewis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Anyone looking for a Positive Role Model is likely to be disappointed by Ann Veronica. If the novel had been written as a polemic, the heroine would have been level-headed, liberal and wholly consistent. But she is a human. She rails against the lot of women, but she is really more interested in her own personal happiness rather than that of women in general. Some may dislike the way that in the end she gets over her youthful rebellion and becomes a dutiful wife who enjoys being told what to do;...more

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May 16, 2012 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-mainstream

ANN VERONICA. (1909). H. G. Wells. ****.
Both Wells and his good friend G. B. Shaw attempted to address social issues through their writings – Wells through his novels and essays, Shaw through his plays and prefaces. Both were effective in their efforts, and both had a profound effect of the shape of literature to come. Even in his ‘science fiction’ works, Wells managed to sneak in his views on the state of our society. In this novel, he addresses the social and political status of women in turn...more

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Dec 06, 2011 Allison rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book follows the life and decisions of Ann Veronica, a young woman who feels constrained by the social stigmas of the early 1900's. She disagrees with her father about school, friends, and general freedoms and finally leaves home to persue a life of freedom and forward thinking. She becomes involved with the suffragettes and makes some poor decisions about money and men. Her experiences slowly draw her away from the Victorian mind frame and stuffiness and into a "modern" world of thought.

Fi...more

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Aug 28, 2011 Carl rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not quite as good as the History of Mr. Polly, but nevertheless well worth reading. I think of it as D.H. Lawrence light, not entirely a bad thing. Ann Veronica is looking for life with a capital L and is living in a world that offers women life with a decidedly lower case l. She rebels against her father, moves to London on her own, and then interacts with three men. Capes she loves, but he's already married (though unhappily, and wishes for divorce). Ramage would like A.V. as his mistress; he...more

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May 28, 2011 Mary Ronan Drew rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book

Ann Veronica caused quite a stir when it was published in 1909. The story is about a “New Woman,” an independent girl who yearns to study science, leave her stultifying home and live alone in an apartment, vote, and take her place in the world beside men.

The heroine manages to achieve independence despite dangers from suitors who would crush her spirit as thoroughly as her father has tried to do, and a seemingly friendly man who wants to seduce her. She finally falls in love with a married man a...more Ann Veronica caused quite a stir when it was published in 1909. The story is about a “New Woman,” an independent girl who yearns to study science, leave her stultifying home and live alone in an apartment, vote, and take her place in the world beside men.

The heroine manages to achieve independence despite dangers from suitors who would crush her spirit as thoroughly as her father has tried to do, and a seemingly friendly man who wants to seduce her. She finally falls in love with a married man and runs off with him.

This would all be shocking enough in the first decade of the 20th century. But added to it was a strongly autobiographical theme alluding to H G Wells’ affair with a young girl who bore his child out of wedlock. Even the name Ann Veronica was a bit too close to that of Wells’ inamorata, Amber Reeves.

So how has the book held up over time? A hundred years later we are no longer shocked at the heroine’s leaving home to live alone, her insistence on studying, or her having an affair with a married man. We may disapprove of the affair but we aren’t shocked by it. But Well’s having seduced an idealistic young girl and then written about it in such detail continues to be disturbing.

Wells was the son of a gardener and a domestic servant. One admires the grit with which he rose from that working class background to success in a middle-class world. Some of his writing, especially his science fiction, remains popular today (The War of the Worlds.) He was a socialist, a pacifist, and an atheist at a time when those were not popular isms. He married a cousin, left her for one of his students, and continued throughout his life to have frequent affairs, especially with women of note including Margaret Sanger, Elizabeth von Arnim, and Rebecca West. There were many others.

This is a wearying book, more a Fabian tract than a novel, and a lengthy fictional excuse for his behavior. I don’t care for science fiction and I haven’t read Wells’ famous work in that genre so I am no judge of his skill, though his novels having lasted so long makes it likely he was rather better at sci fi than at quasi-political fiction. I did not like this novel and I don’t think it has much lasting worth. And yes, I do recognize that I’m letting my distaste for his life affect my opinion of his work.

2011 No 79 (less)

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May 31, 2012 Susannah J. Bell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. When I first started reading this book, I wondered why I was bothering. What can you learn from a book whose lessons no longer have any significance? It’s a hundred years out of date, after all; is there any woman out there who cares about feminism anymore? But then Ann Veronica runs away from home, comes to London, and, on her first day, experiences fear. Suddenly everything changed – for me. I also experienced fear when I ran away from home to live in London, although my fear never left me. Bu...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Andrew Mcburnie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'd only read HG Wells' science-fiction, which all reek of their era, so this book was a surprise because it was published in 1909 but feels modern: the suffragettes, socialists and other trendy radicals that the heroine Anne Veronica gets involved with seem straight out of the late sixties/early seventies. Wells describes the confusion of Fabian meetings and the “inexplicable enthusiasm” of the suffrage movement, with its “incoherent cries for unsoundly formulated ends”. The trendy revolutionar...more I'd only read HG Wells' science-fiction, which all reek of their era, so this book was a surprise because it was published in 1909 but feels modern: the suffragettes, socialists and other trendy radicals that the heroine Anne Veronica gets involved with seem straight out of the late sixties/early seventies. Wells describes the confusion of Fabian meetings and the “inexplicable enthusiasm” of the suffrage movement, with its “incoherent cries for unsoundly formulated ends”. The trendy revolutionaries have difficulty agreeing on anything and many of them are crackpots. The now familiar feminist political theories are presumably obtained from the author's many (all very bright) girlfriends - “Women have practically NO economic freedom,” said Miss Miniver, “because they have no political freedom."

The atmosphere is modern even though there are still horse-drawn cabs, (along with electric lighting).

Anne Veronica wants to escape the prison-like restrictions imposed on her by her father, and runs away from home. She goes to suffragette meetings, but she can’t stand the thought of getting involved in demonstrations, badgering cabinet ministers and all the undignified consequences. The laboratory where she attempts to pursue scientific studies provides a retreat for her: she loves its relevance, everything in it is focused on pursuing and identifying biological structures. But she is not a wimpy Victorian woman (definitely not like most of Charles Dickens' females); she's a toughnut. When a neighbour, Mr Ramage (note, change the "m" to a "v" and you get the idea), tries to force himself on her, she beats him up. In reaction afterwards, she gets involved in a suffragette riot and spends a month in prison.

The end of the book drifts and gets soppy, as Anne Veronica runs off with her One True Love (a scientist) and they wander all over the continent, presumably screwing their bums off. It all ends in unlikely happiness when he turns to writing and makes a fortune. Nevertheless worth reading for the strange familiarity of this now more than one-hundred year old world.
(less)

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Apr 29, 2012 Empyrean Opulent rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am happy I read this. This is the first (and probably the last) of HG Well's love stories I have read. This is also the first book that I listened to on audio. I have resolved that when I am doing chores and the like that it would benefit me to be productive and listen to a book. It definitely made the time pass.
This book was really interesting, especially living today. Ann Veronica was very progessive and a lot of what she was fighting for (suffrage, women's freedom and the freedom of women t...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Caroline rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novel, prose, kindle

It's hard to figure out what to make, and for that reason (and also, I guess, because Wells is usually pigeonholed as a sci-fi writer, and because he wrote A LOT of books), it's understandable why it's obscure. It is, for the most part, a really witty and insightful social satire about the life of a young middle class woman in the early 20th century, from a largely feminist and progressive POV. It's nice to read for that reason, for the insight and also because it's entertaining. On the other ha...more

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Feb 24, 2009 Eggsovergreasy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Actual rating: 3.5

While this is a coming of age story it seems that the core theme is whether or not the kids end up repeating the errors they perceive in their parents' love, marriage, child-rearing ways. Or, are the ways of the past cultural and in the future kids and parents may reach a new cultural place where they don't have the BIG conflicts...

The story line seemed more like a caricature, or a sketch, rather than a full blown novel. It seems quick in roll out with an attempt by Wells to...more

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Jun 04, 2010 Benjamin added it

Shelves: audiobook

One of Wells's realist novels, this follows a young, headstrong Ann Veronica as she tries to make her way in the world--both the world of science (she wants to continue studies over her father's wishes) and the world of love (to continue her studies, she gets help from a man who presumes too much, while she falls in love with her teacher).

Wells was friends and lovers with many women; and his portrait of Ann Veronica seems clear-eyed and unsentimental about women's circumscribed position at this...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the things I did not like about the book was the ending, what a SELL-OUT to get married! I felt angry with her for it. And Wells description of "V" liking to be "dominated" by her man at the end! GUH! What a SICKENING DHLesque male ego stroking pile of POO!!! However, besides these criticisms it was a good book - I could fully relate to Ann up until the end. I still wonder why it landed in the feminist list, but then again - I'm a lot more radical than the pornofied feminist cliches of to...more

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Mar 09, 2011 Leslie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, 20th-century-fiction

Ann Veronica Stanley rebels against the expectations for a respectable young woman in prewar suburban middle-class Britain, trying hard to think for herself and find a place for herself in the world that hasn't been decided for her by other people. The book goes in some unexpected and interesting directions. One thing she discovers is that high-minded ideals of independence aren't enough without the economic wherewithal to back them up.

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Jun 09, 2012 Dara Salley rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is basically H.G. Well’s take on feminism and the women’s suffrage movement told in narrative form through the adventures of one young woman. His views on women ranged from insightful to insulting, but that wasn’t the interesting part of the novel. To me the novel was about a young person trying to find their place in life. Many people in their early twenties go through phases where they try to find the answers through political associations. There is also usually a period of reining i...more

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May 30, 2012 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was rather slow starting out but in light of the suffrage movement it painted a nice picture of the history. It was considered scandalous when it was initially written and while it is no "50 Shades of Grey", it has a fair amount of what would be tantamount in that day to scandal. All in all, a 3.5 on a scale of 1 to 5.

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Sep 28, 2012 ELK rated it 4 of 5 stars

What began as a thoughtful girl's exploration of her identity as a young woman in Suffrage-era Britain ended with her conceding to a typical domestic life. Ignoring the disappointing outcome, it's still a strong meditation on the pointlessness of keeping within the bounds of mindless convention.

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Dec 24, 2012 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: general-fiction

This is not at all what I expected when I picked it up. I'd been reading "The Time Traveler" and "War of the Worlds" for the NPR Sci-Fi/Fantasy list, and saw that H.G. Wells had written numerous other novels. This novel follows a young woman who has ideas of suffrage and of female independence, but who feels stifled by her maiden aunt and strict father.

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Oct 31, 2011 Ivory rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

I wasn't really planning to read this book. I was looking for something free to listen to while on a 8 hour car ride. Maybe it was just the fact that it was really interesting compared to trees and mountains, but I actually liked it. It started off a little ridiculously with the in your face feminist stuff, but if you look past that it's really a story about life, what it means to search for something more... and what the hell you do when you find it.

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Apr 10, 2013 Sncr rated it 4 of 5 stars

I can absolutely understand why this book is a classic and as a young woman, I feel that this is a must read book. I liked the encouragement of free thinking with a woman in an era when this wasn't encouraged.

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Feb 04, 2013 Crystal rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Being one of the "New Woman" novels, I didn't know quite what to expect. This is the best, most realistic one I've read thus far. Vee's spunk is admirable and Wells took on the subject with a decent blend of traditional and non-traditional behavior. The ending was very appropriate for me at this time in my life. It wasn't edgy and yet it wasn't sentimental.
I would read this one again.

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Jun 09, 2011 Awena Night rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-school

it was extremely funny, there were times when you could tell it was written by a man but that does not mean it isn't a great book

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Mar 24, 2011 Genneal rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The beginning of the women's movement. Another free book from Amazonkindle. Waste of precious reading time.

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Oct 13, 2012 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: life-lessons

A book on women's struggles for personal independence, that is as true now as it was then..

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Sep 23, 2012 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ann Veronica is a "New Woman," who defies her father, moves to London where she thinks she can get a job and support herself so that she can continue to study biology. I loved the fact that the novel upends Victorian expectations that she will get her comeuppance, that she should come to no good end because she pursues the man she wants even though he's married to someone else. I also loved the fact that after the rebellious "New Woman" gets her man, she ends up a bourgeois housewife and expecta...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone interested in British fiction or the New Woman

Recommended to Lauren by: Andy Nagy.

Shelves: worthrereading

I like this just as much as I did the first time I read it. Ann's voice is so fresh and modern. Wells must have really been carefully listening to the women (and there were a lot of them) in his life. Ann's trajectory from her father's house to life on her own is fascinating, as is her foray into the sufferage movement. There's some wooly Wellsian writing here, but also some crisply expressed ideas and vivid, almost visceral scenes.

I like the ambiguous ending more this time around.

A wonderful...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Rachelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really don't understand why this book isn't more well-known. It's a thoughtful, engaging portrayal of a young woman at the rise of the suffragette movement. My old pal H.G. brings her complex character to life most deftly, and I grew to love and admire Ann Veronica and her headstrong ways. Sing it, Sister.

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Oct 24, 2008 Rosie rated it 4 of 5 stars

While some elements of the book may seem a little dated, it was not so long ago that women did not have the vote and ironically, the better off your family, the more dependent and restricted a girl would be.

It's sobering that we can take for granted being able to get a job and live away from home, simple independance that people had to fight so hard for.

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May 29, 2011 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty good. I think authors today might do similar things without being so explicit that that's what they are doing (I imagined Carol Shields or someone writing this book today), but even with the ideology made so plain, Wells does a pretty good job of making real characters and a real story. And I loved what he had to say about projection.

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About H.G. Wells

Herbert George Wells, better known as H. G. Wells, was the third son of a shopkeeper. After two years' apprenticeship in a draper's shop, he became a pupil-teacher at Midhurst Grammar School and won a scholarship to study under T. H. Huxley at the Normal School of Science, South Kensington. He taught biology before becoming a professional writer and journalist.

Wells is most famous today for his s...more

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“The art of ignoring is one of the accomplishments of every well-bred girl, so carefully instilled that at last she can even ignore her own thoughts and her own knowledge.” — 6 people liked it

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