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Lady Rose’s Daughter

A forgotten best seller

by Mary Augusta Ward

British novelist Mary Ward’s tenth novel, Lady Rose’s Daughter, was a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. One source reported that the book sold as many as a hundred thousand copies in England. The Bookman crowned it the best-selling book of 1903 in the United States. But by 1916 it had fallen out of print. What does this forgotten best seller have to teach us about the world of 1903? What made this story resonate so strongly with so many readers one decade and so few the next?

This digital edition of Lady Rose’s Daughter includes a new introduction and an appendix of documents related to the novel and its author. The novel itself is annotated to provide historical context. It is part of a Lapham’s Quarterly project on forgotten best sellers. For more details and links to other parts of the project, see here.

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IntroductionAppendix
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IntroductionAppendix
#LadyRoseLQ
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We invite readers to discuss Lady Rose’s Daughter on social media using the hashtag #LadyRoseLQ and to join our reading group, where you can use annotation and comment features to discuss the novel. To join us you must first create an account here by selecting “Need to sign up?” After creating an account you can connect to the discussion by following this link. You can also create your own reading group for your friends, book club, or class. (Details on how to do that can be found here.)

Introduction

  • Introduction: Not a Girl, Not Yet a New Woman | Elizabeth Della Zazzera

Lady Rose’s Daughter

  • Title Page
  • I
  • II
  • III
  • IV
  • V
  • VI
  • VII
  • VIII
  • IX
  • X
  • XI
  • XII
  • XIII
  • XIV
  • XV
  • XVI
  • XVII
  • XVIII
  • XIX
  • XX
  • XXI
  • XXII
  • XXIII
  • XXIV

Appendix

  • 1903: A Novel Without a Purpose | Elliot Henderson
  • 1903: The Importance of Being a Duchess | William J. Lampton
  • 1920: For Fans of Aristocratic Loveliness | Exhibitors Herald
  • 1908: A Salon of One’s Own | Camilla Jebb
  • 1904: Offered Love with Both Hands | William Leonard Courtney
  • 1908: One Woman, No Vote | Mary Augusta Ward
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