Diana of the Crossways

Loosely based on the writer and reformer Caroline Norton, this novel follows Diana Warwick, an Irishwoman as brilliant in conversation as she is unlucky in marriage. Trapped in a loveless match, she turns to novel-writing to support herself and drifts into the dangerous currents of London politics and gossip. When she is accused of betraying a statesman’s confidence to a newspaper, her reputation and her livelihood hang in the balance. Meredith writes Diana as a fully thinking woman, prized for her mind rather than pitied for her plight, and his prose crackles with epigram and irony. The book helped cement his reputation and remains a sharp study of a woman fighting to define herself. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.