Lisa’s Comments (group member since Sep 23, 2009)

Lisa’s comments from the Should have read classics group.

We are happy to have you join us! Congrats on graduating, that is exciting! What is your major?

Hi Lisa! Great name!LOL

Welcome Marie! HAHA, nice to see you in the group finally!

Can you make this ahead of time?

HAHA! Sorry about all the posts! I needed to click on the newest posts. What a schlub!

I was lost at marzipan!LOL Sure, I would love to have the recipie! Is it hard to do? I'm no Julia Childs, to put it lightly.
On a separate note, I think that some people's posts are not making it on here. I have a post from Amy on my updates, but it never made it here. Hope that they fix the website problem!

It is hard, even today, trying to define the role of woman. We all fit into our own catagory. I was just surprised that the English government passed a law so early to protect women from disputes.
I must agree with you about Countess Fosco! I also found Mrs. Catharick vile. Nothing about her story made me like or empathize with her at all.

Can I come to your house? LOL What is a fangipani pie? Never heard of that!

So do I, and I even cleared out my inbox, but that did not help either. Thanks for the help! I thought that I had some crazy issue with my computer.
Need it to look up Thangsgiving recipes, since I'm having 20 people on that day. Yikes! Need my allrecipes to survive!LOL

This has nothing to do with giveaways, but has anyone else besides me been getting an error message about "stack overflow at line 13725"? I keep getting this and can't figure out if it is my computer or the site.

What a wonderful way to start the day!!!!! I'm so happy for you!!!!! The book sounds very interesting, can't wait to read your review of it!!!! It just makes your day to win a book! Congrats!

I had my on loan through the library, so I had to get it read rather quickly. It was a great pick, Sharon! Thanks for the recommendation!

Ok, that was a fast read! What a sweet book, I was correct about the tissue!

I'm on page 30, and can tell already, that I'm going to keep a tissue close by with this book.

Just a little background:
English law defined the role of the wife as a ‘feme covert’, emphasizing her subordination to her husband, and putting her under the ‘protection and influence of her husband, her baron, or lord’ (see Coverture). Upon marriage, the husband and wife became one person under the law, as the property of the wife was surrendered to her husband, and her legal identity ceased to exist. Any personal property acquired by the wife during the marriage, unless specified that it was for her own separate use, went automatically to her husband. Further, married women were unable to draft wills or dispose of any property without their husbands’ consent.[1]

Women were often limited in what they could inherit. Males were more likely to receive real property (land), while females with brothers were sometimes limited to inherited personal property, which included clothing, jewelry, household furniture, food, and all moveable goods.[2] In an instance where no will was found, the English law of primogeniture automatically gave the oldest son the right to all real property, and the daughter only inherited real property in the absence of a male heir. The law of intestate primogeniture remained on the books in Britain until 1925.[3]

Aware of their daughters’ unfortunate situation, fathers often provided them with dowries (see Dowry) or worked into a prenuptial agreement pin money, the estate which the wife was to possess for her sole and separate use not subject to the control of her husband, to provide her with an income separate from his.[4]

In contrast to wives, women who never married or who were widowed maintained control over their property and inheritance, owned land and controlled property disposal, since by law any unmarried adult female was considered to be a feme sole. Once married, the only way that women could reclaim property was through widowhood.

The dissolution of a marriage, whether initiated by the husband or wife, usually left the divorced females impoverished, as the law offered them no rights to marital property. The 1836 Caroline Norton court case highlighted the injustice of English property laws, and generated enough support that eventually resulted in the Married Women’s Property Act in 1882.[3]

[edit] The Act (1882)
After years of political lobbying, the Married Women’s Property Rights Act addressed the grievances presented by English women. The Act altered the common law doctrine of coverture to include the wife’s right to own, buy and sell her separate property.[5] Wives' legal identities were also restored, as the courts were forced to recognize a husband and a wife as two separate legal entities, in the same manner as if the wife was a feme sole. Married women’s legal rights included the right to sue and be sued. Any damages a wife might pay would be her own responsibility, instead of that of her husband. Married women were then also liable for their own debts, and any outside trade they owned was subject to bankruptcy laws. Further, married women were able to hold stock in their own names.[6] The Act applied in England (and Wales) and Ireland (subsequently only Northern Ireland), but did not extend to Scotland.[7]

Collins was said not to have married because marriage so encumbered women. Considering that this book was written 20+ years before the above act was passed, do you think that Collins got his view across? Do you approve of the novel's depiction of women?

I just finished this morning and REALLY enjoyed this book! Count Fosco is a wonderful villian! Oh sorry, spoiler alert! I'm glad that I stuck with it!

LOL

After finishing Marion's narrative last night, I must say I'm shocked. Poor Laura.

Our library just got connected with other systems in Colorado and we can now access them online. It has been great! I could not belive this book was on there!
I can see where an ereader would be helpful with those rather obscure books.

Just got my copy from the library and it is beautiful. First published in 1912 and it has an inscription in it that says "Phyllis Martin Christmas 1926." Oh, how I wish books could talk sometimes!