Ann Veronica

Ann Veronica is a New Woman novel by H.G. Wells. Ann Veronica describes the rebellion of Ann Veronica Stanley, "a young lady of nearly two-and-twenty," against her middle-class father's stern patriarchal rule. The novel dramatizes the contemporary problem of the New Woman. It is set in Victorian era London and environs, except for an Alpine excursion. Ann Veronica offers vignettes of the Women's suffrage movement in Great Britain and features a chapter inspired by the 1908 attempt of suffragettes to storm Parliament. Ann Veronica created a sensation when published in the fall of 1909 because of the feminist sensibilities of the heroine and also because of the affair Wells was having with Amber Reeves, the woman who inspired the novel's eponymous character. Although the novel now seems very tame, Ann Veronica was considered a scandalous work by many in its day and was denounced as "capable of poisoning the minds of those who read it" by The Spectator. Ann Veronica was included in the Modern Library in 1917, the year the publishing company was founded. Subsequent Modern Library editions were published in 1926, 1928, and 1933. Ann Veronica was made into a musical in 1969; both the musical and one of the numbers within are titled "Ann Veronica".