Miss Meredith (1889) is a novel by Amy Levy. Published the year of her
tragic death, Miss Meredith is the final novel of a pioneering writer
and feminist whose poetry and prose explores the concept of the New
Woman while illuminating the realities of Jewish life in nineteenth
century London. "A hard fight with fortune had been my mother's from the
day when, a girl of eighteen, she had left a comfortable home to marry
my father for love. Poverty and sickness--those two redoubtable
dragons--had stood ever in the path. Now, even the love which had been
by her side for so many years, and helped to comfort them, had vanished
into the unknown." Elsie Meredith is keenly aware of her mother's fate
in life, and although she wants to be there for her in her time of
greatest need, she fears more than anything the prospect of following in
her footsteps. "[N]either literary nor artistic, neither picturesque
like Jenny nor clever like Rosalind," Elsie is a textbook middle child,
destined to go through life on her own terms, yet unequipped with the
drive or willingness to conform possessed by her sisters. On a whim, she
decides to embark for Italy to work as a governess for the Marchesa
Brogi. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset
manuscript, this edition Amy Levy's Miss Meredith is a classic work of
British literature reimagined for modern readers.
