Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Whitlock reissues "Victorian Valley of the Dolls."

Whitlock Publishing has reissued the temperance novel Danesbury House (1860) by Mrs. Ellen Wood, which combines "addictions, insanity, forgery, and death" and is memorably characterized by its publisher as a "Victorian Valley of the Dolls."

Bestselling (take a look at these sales figures) novelist Wood, aka Mrs. Henry Wood (1814–87), may be best known for East Lynne (1861), but she also wrote a number of ghost stories and can be considered as a rival of Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

About the image: Portrait of Ellen Wood, from Memorials of Mrs. Henry Wood (1894).

1 comment:

Martin Edwards said...

'Victorian Valley of the Dolls' is certainly one of the great tag-lines!