This collection places the life and work of Margaret Harkness at the heart of a broader consideration of the socially turbulent decades around the turn of the twentieth century in order to illuminate historical forms of women’s political activism.

Margaret Harkness is the first book to bring together research on the life and work of a writer, activist and traveller at the forefront of literary innovation and social change at the turn of the twentieth century. Its multidisciplinary approach combines recently uncovered biographical information with rich contextual information to illuminate the extensive career of a writer committed to exposing the exploitation of individuals and the plight of marginalised communities worldwide. The critical essays range from new considerations of Harkness’s well-known novels to examinations of lesser-known periodical fiction and journalism, her relationship with contemporaries such as Olive Schreiner and W. T. Stead, and her life and work abroad in Australia and India. The book gives substance to women’s social engagement and political involvement in a period prior to their formal enfranchisement and enriches understanding of the complex and dynamic world of the long nineteenth century.

Chronology of Margaret Harkness’s life Margaret Harkness’s connections Selected works by Margaret Harkness Note on texts cited Introduction: Rethinking Margaret Harkness’s Significance in Political and Literary History Lisa C. Robertson and Flore Janssen Part I: Harkness’s Life and Work 1. A Law unto Herself: the Solitary Odyssey of M. E. Harkness Terry Elkiss 2. Absent Character: from Margaret Harkness to John Law Tabitha Sparks Part II: In Harkness’s London 3. Walking Harkness’s London Nadia Valman 4. ‘The Problem of Leisure/What to do for Pleasure’: Women and Leisure Time inA City Girl (1887) andIn Darkest London (1891) Eliza Cubitt 5. The Vicissitudes of Victory: Margaret HarknessGeorge Eastmont, Wanderer (1905), and the 1889 Dockworkers’ Strike David Glover Part III: Harkness and Genre: Rethinking Slum Fiction 6. Soundscapes of the City in Margaret HarknessA City Girl (1887), Henry JamesThe Princess Casamassima (1885–86), and Katharine Buildings, Whitechapel Ruth Livesey 7. Margaret Harkness, Novelist: Social Semantics and Experiments in Fiction Lynne Hapgood 8. ‘Connie’: Melodrama and Tory-Socialism Deborah Mutch Part IV: Personal Influences: Harkness and her Contemporaries 9. Socialism, Suffering, and Religious Mystery: Margaret Harkness and Olive Schreiner Angharad Eyre 10. Margaret Harkness, W. T. Stead, and the Transatlantic Social Gospel Network Helena Goodwyn Part V: After London: Harkness’s Life and Work in the Twentieth Century 11. Through the Mill: Margaret Harkness on Conjectural History and Utilitarian Philosophy Lisa C. Robertson 12. Lasting Ties: Margaret Harkness, the Salvation Army, and A Curate’s Promise (1921) Flore Janssen Index

Margaret Harkness is the first book to bring together research on the life and work of a writer, activist and traveller at the forefront of literary innovation and social change at the turn of the twentieth century. Its multidisciplinary approach combines recently uncovered biographical information with rich contextual information to illuminate the extensive career of a writer committed to exposing the exploitation of individuals and the plight of marginalised communities worldwide. The critical essays range from new considerations of Harkness’s well-known novels to examinations of lesser-known periodical fiction and journalism, her relationship with contemporaries such as Olive Schreiner and W. T. Stead, and her life and work abroad in Australia and India. The book gives substance to women’s social engagement and political involvement in a period prior to their formal enfranchisement and enriches understanding of the complex and dynamic world of the long nineteenth century.