The Histories of Some of the Penitents in the Magdalen House

by Jennie Batchelor (Editor), Megan Hiatt (Editor)

First published in 1759, this novel aims to promote the cause of the Magdalen House, a charity which sought to rehabilitate prostitutes by fitting them for a life of virtuous industry. It challenges long-standing prejudices against prostitutes by presenting them as victims of inadequate education, male libertinism and sexual double standards.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Jennie Batchelor lives in Reigate, Surrey, with her partner and two children, and teaches at the University of Kent. She has written and edited several books on women's writing, eighteenth-century dress and early women's magazines, and regularly gives public lectures and writes articles and guest blogs on these and other subjects. In April 2016 Jennie appeared on the New Statesman's Hidden Histories podcast series, 'The Great Forgetting: Women Writers before Jane Austen', and in 2017 she was invited to speak at the Cheltenham Literary Festival with Lucy Worsley and Sarah Moss about the enduring popularity of Jane Austen. She can regularly be heard on podcasts, the radio and sometimes on TV.

Jennie's longstanding interest in the history of fashion and needlework led to her curation of 'The Great Lady's Magazine Stitch Off', a project for which people around the world recreated rare, surviving embroidery patterns from the Lady's Magazine for an exhibition to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's Emma at Chawton House Library. She is Patron of the Kent branch of the Jane Austen Society

Reviews

[Randi Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a piece of literature that was supposed to be written by fallen women/penitents. It was probably written by supports of the Magdalen houses in England - still it is an interesting piece of social history from the early 1800s. Would recommend for people truly interested in the subject matter.