The way things were ...

... The Dangerous Novel | Nordisk Kvinde Litteratur Historie.

For the middle-class woman who was confined in so many ways, reading was to become both a diversion and an education in the woman’s new role. It also became a much discussed and criticised occupation. It may be that this literature, with its intense discussion of the woman’s new role and the problems concerning it, also became a way of communicating and debating, carrying on a dialogue, among the hemmed-in women.