(no subject)

Happy birthday, hafren and holli!

I suspect I wanted the whole book, or more of it, to be like this

My dearios will doubtless recall, because, lo, the whingeing, it has been heard on the moon, no? my plaints on the trope of 'she is not like other gurlz' whether this is in respect of Our Fictional Heroine among Those Other Mimsies, or some woman in history who was in fact part of a thriving network of other women who were, in fact, like that, writing novel, doing art, studying the wonders of nature, etc etc etc.

So I was, I admit, particularly charmed while reading Something Extraordinary by the following passage:

["]They’ll probably just be fussing with their hair. Or maybe they want their skirts fluffing or their corset fastening.”
“And what makes you think I’m qualified to help with any of that?”
“Well”—Bob’s eyes gave her a quick up-down—“you’re a girl.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” said Bob impatiently, “but the thing is, the thing about me, is I’m not like other girls.”
Belle stared at her in confusion. “What does that even mean?”
“Oh, you know. I’m sharp-tongued and strong-willed. I’m interested in maths and science and things like that. I’m not beautiful, but my eyes are very striking.”
“And you’re under the impression that you’re the only woman on the planet like that?”
“Name three others.”
Belle pondered a moment. “Josephine Kablik*, Mary Somerville, Caroline Herschel.”
“Name three in this room.”
Repressing a sigh, Belle scanned the guests. “Those two ladies who accompanied each other? One is an astronomer, the other the daughter of a famous naturalist who I believe has some experience in the field herself. The woman in the corner drinking perhaps a little heavily for the occasion is a writer, a reformer, and a reputed rakess. And the Scottish lady being rude to the Duke of Castlewell is a campaigner for the legalisation of trade unions.["]

(I could not possibly comment whether Flora Ferraby was likely to be present on this occasion....)

Anyway, I would so be up for a novel about this circle.

***

*Josephine Kablik was actually someone who had slipped beneath my own radar as a scientific lady of the period. She was very fond of lichens, and was, literally, Bohemian.