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The case of the married woman : Caroline Norton and her fight for women's justice / Antonia Fraser.

by Fraser, Antonia, 1932- author.

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New York : Pegasus Books, 2022.

Norton, Caroline Sheridan, 1808-1877.

Women authors, English -- 19th century -- Biography.

Authors, English -- 19th century -- Biography.

Women -- Political activity -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.

Women's rights -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.

9781639361571 (hardcover) :

163936157X (hardcover)

xvii, 286 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), genealogical tables ; 24 cm

First Pegasus books cloth edition.

Prologue: She does not exist -- Part one: Starry night -- Child in a dark wood -- 'Here she comes!' -- Melbourne's hat -- What Mr. Norton liked -- Part two: Summer's gone -- Helpless -- Extraordinary trial -- Given against whom? -- Hungry for the children -- Woman's tears and the law -- Part three: Half in shade, half in sun -- Heavenly Norton -- Lost companions -- The name of writer -- Let him claim the copyright -- Part four: The winds of change -- Reaping in joy? -- Nonna wants the pen -- Floated away from shore -- Epilogue: One of the little hinges.

Relates the story of nineteenth-century English poet Caroline Norton, who was denied access to her children by her husband after a sensational trial for adultery, and fought tirelessly for the rights of married women and mothers, resulting in the passage of the Infant Custody Act of 1839.

After her marriage in 1828 to the MP George Norton, Caroline Norton attracted friends and admirers to her salon in Westminster, which included the young Disraeli and the widowed Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. Racked with jealousy, George Norton took the Prime Minister to court, suing him for damages on account of his 'Criminal Conversation' (adultery) with Caroline. Despite the unexpected sensational acquittal, Norton was still able to legally deny Caroline access to her three children, all under seven. He also claimed her income as an author for himself, since the copyrights of a married woman belonged to her husband. Caroline refused to despair; she channeled her energies in an area of much-needed reform: the rights of a married woman and specifically those of a mother. Over the next few years she achieved her first landmark victory with the Infant Custody Act of 1839. Fraser sets the record straight, and in doing brings Caroline Norton to life. - adapted from jacket

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