Outsiders

Gordon rallies the reader to look to these five as the trailblazers and inspiration for our own lives.

The work and lives of Emily Brontë, George Eliot, Mary Shelley, Olive Schreiner and Virginia Woolf are well known. Gordon's thesis sets out just how original and brave they were—and at what cost. We owe them much.

Lyndall Gordon's empathetic commitment to the unfolding story in the lives of literary figures is central to her work.

Gordon's book is a pertinent reminder of the risks each of them bravely faced in order to save themselves from the fate of a Maggie Tulliver or a Judith Shakespeare and leave posterity with their remarkable works.

The battle [by women] is still to be won. If you are looking for inspiration for the fight, this book will be your companion.

As the role of women undergoes yet another convulsion, it's good to read of five women who made a powerful contribution.

It was a relief, really exhilarating to read Outsiders. Gordon's composite biography brings to light the overlaps between the lives of five visionary women in their quest to give expression to truths that their original natures allowed them to perceive.

Gordon succeeds in showing not only the pain but 'the possibilities of the outsider.' While distinctive in their voices, these writers converge 'in their hatred of our violent world,' exposing domestic and systemic violence. Their strength of spirit shines from the pages and through the ages.

Through sensitively recounted biographical details and literary readings, Gordon seeks to understand how these women became writers despite the obstacles in their way, and creates a web of connections, effected in part by their reading of each other’s works, and the writings of Mary Wollstonecraft.

I love how Lyndall Gordon thinks and I love the clarity and reach of her writing, combining imaginative audacity with scholarly scruple. Her Outsiders builds into a lucid meditation on how certain writers become lighthouses for each other.

[A] stunning portrait of Woolf... one of the most sophisticated explorations of Woolf available and a perfect introduction for students and general readers alike.

A lively and enterprising group biography.

A biographer of the imagination.

The visionary, beautiful Outsiders.

Impeccably researched... an excellent read.