The Vulgar Question of Money Heiresses, Materialism, and the Novel of Manners from Jane Austen to Henry James

A seminal body of outstanding scholarship and a very highly recommended addition to academic library English Literature reference collections and supplemental reading lists. Midwest Book Review 2011 An indispensable survey of the figure of the rich woman in the novel of manners from Austen to James... Michie's writing is clear, precise, and lucid. An important work. Essential. Choice 2012 Bold, engaging, and richly complicated... It is immensely valuable in calling our attention to the relationship between nineteenth-century marriage plots and the discourses of political economy generally and to the maligned but ubiquitous figure of the heiress in particular, challenging critics today to overcome their own sense of money as a vulgar question. -- Nancy Henry Review of English Studies 2012 Michie's book opens up new angles from which to think about the relations between money and marrying in nineteenth-century fiction. -- Rachel Bowlby Times Literary Supplement 2012 One of the most valuable pieces of criticism this year. The emphasis and clarity of its writing is a delight in itself. -- Talia Schaffer Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies 2012 The mixture of laughter, guilt, and envy that characterizes our culture's response to the unattractive rich woman is fully explored and exorcized in this closely argued study. -- Valerie Sanders Nineteenth-Century Literature 2012 This is a valuable study that will be useful to anyone interested in gender and economics in the nineteenth century. -- Patricia Zakreski Modern Language Review 2013