The Early Post-Suffrage Fiction of Constance Nina Boyle

Nicola Allen is Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Co-Course Leader for MA English at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. She is author of Marginality in the Contemporary British Novel (2008).

This book offers the first comprehensive treatment of the fiction of Constance Antonina (Nina) Boyle: a suffragette described in one obituary as 'second only to Mrs Pankhurst'. Boyle was a well-known campaigner and was the first woman to stand for selection as a candidate in an election in the UK. However, her novels have been all but forgotten. This study explores Boyle's early fiction and focuses on her first five novels - each of which represents a retelling of established narratives. It explores how Boyle used her fiction to voice her radical gender politics within a culture that was becoming increasingly hostile to even discussing women's rights outside of the extension of the franchise. This book will be of interest to scholars of women's suffrage as well as anyone interested in popular fiction of the 1920s.

1. Introduction: Walking into the Future.- 2 From Campaigner to Novelist: The Lives of Constance Antonina Boyle.- 3 Out of the Frying Pan.- 4 What Became of Mr Desmond.- 5 Nor All Thy Tears.- 6 Anna's.- 7 The Stranger Within the Gates.- 8 Conclusion: Deeds and Words.