Daily Archives: October 31, 2018

Surplus Women

Why are spinsters always solving mysteries?

Contributors:

Rosemary Cresswell, senior lecturer in global history at the University of Hull. Follow her on Twitter @RosieCresswell.

Camilla Nelson, associate professor of writing at the University of Notre Dame Australia.

—Helen Parkinson

Further reading:

A field guide to spinsters in English fiction

‘Surplus women’: a legacy of World War One?

Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men After the First World War by Virginia Nicholson.

The Shadow of Marriage by Katherine Holden

Unnatural Death by Dorothy L Sayers

NB: Links to Blackwell’s are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell’s is a UK bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge.

You can find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/surpluswomentranscript.

Surplus Women Transcript

Caroline: Every age has had a different way of describing a woman who exists alone, rather than as part of a couple. Today, she might just call herself “single”, but at different times in the past people might have referred to her, often with contempt, as an “old maid”, a “bachelor girl”, a “spinster”, or… Continue Reading