The Land of Nowhere

If you're just tuning in, this is my latest installment in posts on The Call by Edith Ayrton Zangwill (goodreads, kobo). Today I'm going to talk about how it fits into a subgenre called "suffragette romance", which I have just invented based on two British books from the early 20th century. But please tell me if you know of others!

The basic idea of suffragette romance is that there is a central love triangle between the protagonist, her male love interest, and the women's suffrage movement. These books adhere to the conventions of the romance genre inasmuch as our protagonist always ends up with the boy, which is of course a bit disappointing as he can't possiably be as romantic as women's suffrage.

The other suffragette romance I know is Ann Veronica by H. G. Wells, which I was curious about at first because its protagonist was supposedly modeled on Dusa McDuff's grandmother and one of H. G. Wells's many girlfriends, though Amber Reeves is actually a much more interesting person than her fictional counterpart. Ann Veronica is described as a "scientifically minded" young woman, but I was disappointed to find that she was really much more interested in her science professor (who is clearly an author self-insert). I did enjoy the book -- it was well-written and had some good set-pieces (in case you needed to learn why street harassment and date rape are bad). But its fundamental flaw is that it doesn't respect or give depth to its female characters other than Ann Veronica, who ends up describing herself as "the sort of suffragette who doesn't hate men", but really strikes me more as "the sort of suffragette who doesn't like women".

The Call as a book is definitely in conversation with Ann Veronica, though written 15 years later, in 1924, so after WWI and women got the vote. The writing style isn't as good, but it's much better in all the things that Ann Veronica falls down at. Ursula Winfield is an actual scientist who cares about science (though that's a relatively small part of the book), and doesn't end up having an affair with her male mentor (to the latter's dismay, but Vernon Smee is an awful person who deserves what he gets, more on him later). The book respects all of its female characters, even the ones who initially seem silly turn out to have hidden depths.

Also, Edith Ayrton Zangwill actually has some idea of how to plot a romance novel, probably because she'd read more of them than H. G. Wells. Ursula and her love interest are actually pretty cute together, even if I'm not convinced they're actually compatible long-term, and the ending is made of disability tropefail.

Vaguely prompted by skygiants's post on Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's race around the world, I've been thinking about badass women of the late 19th century, and remembered Hertha Ayrton, who I think should be used in steampunk way more than she is.

"Who is Hertha Ayrton?" you are probably asking. I actually didn't know about her until I went to a museum exhibit fairly recently.

( Zombie Marie Curie wants you to be one of today's lucky ten thousand! )

And yet, despite all this, I've never seen her represented in fiction, even though she seems a natural fit for steampunk. She got a Google doodle, and there are a couple steampunk-themed games that have her as a character, but really, that's it. But there are so many possibilities: arc lamp pyrotechnics! action scenes in the air/water where she harnesses the power of vortices! alternate history where Ayrton fans were in widespread use! And to be honest, I'm getting a little tired of Ada Lovelace being the one female historical character in Victorian-set fantasy, and would like to see more representation of women who grew up in humbler backgrounds.

Though, actually, when researching this I learned that there is actually *one* novel based on Hertha Ayrton's life: The Call by her stepdaughter Edith Ayrton Zangwill about a woman scientist and suffragist. I should read it and see if it's any good!