Eva Antal, and Antonella Laplace Braida, "Female Voices. Forms of Women’s Reading, Self-Education and Writing in Britain (1770–1830)"

This review examines Female Voices. Forms of Women’s Reading, Self-Education and Writing in Britain (1770–1830), edited by Éva Antal and Antonella Laplace Braida, a collection of fourteen essays exploring the diverse forms through which British women writers engaged with reading, self-education, writing, and intellectual participation between the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Organised into four thematic sections, the volume considers women’s intellectual networks across Europe, the construction of the female self, experiments in literary form, and women’s engagement with critical and economic thought. Contributions devoted to both canonical and lesser-known figures—including Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Hays, Mary Shelley, Maria Edgeworth, Jane Austen, Ann Radcliffe, Hannah Cowley, Mary Tighe, Clara Reeve, and Jane Marcet—highlight the variety of literary and non-literary forms through which women negotiated access to knowledge and the public sphere. Particular attention is given to self-education, female authorship, translation, literary and economic literacy, and the relationship between reading and intellectual development. The review argues that the anthology’s main strength lies in its thematic organisation and its ability to bring established and neglected women writers into dialogue, thereby revealing significant continuities across different forms of women’s writing. At the same time, it notes the absence of a concluding section synthesising the connections among the contributions. Overall, the volume offers a valuable contribution to the study of British women’s writing and to the reconsideration of women’s intellectual and cultural participation during the transition from the Enlightenment to Romanticism.