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Oscar Wilde, Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy, Bram Stoker.

These are all names which spring to mind when thinking of literature that shapes the late-Victorian period.

Take a look at the Vintage Classics Timeline and you will see how this speculation is confirmed.

However, this neglects so much literature of the 1880s and 1890s, which significantly defined the era.

Heard the names Sarah Grand, Mona Caird, Mary Cholmondely?

These are just three writers to produce works of art that would play a significant role in women's literature and prefigure the better-known female novelists of the 20th century, such as Virginia Woolf.

Critics argue that these writers have been kicked out of the canon because:

- Many female writers opted to publish short stories rather than three decker novels. They took advantage of the changing economic landscape, which tended to find the reading public consuming smaller portions of literature;
- Most did not adhere to the strict rules of prescriptive grammarians. Shockingly, they often split their infinitives (gasp);
- They centred on themes such as female emancipation, thus challenging the politics of a society staunchly opposed to such ideas.

This blog has been set up as a free information forum to share news and views on the works of late Victorian female writers from both a trivial and academic perspective.