Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Illustrations vii
4. Acknowledgments ix
5. Introduction. The Female Relations of Victorian England 1
6. Part One. Elastic Ideals: Female Friendship
7. Chapter One. Friendship and the Play of the System 25
8. Chapter Two. Just Reading: Female Friendship and the Marriage Plot 73
9. Part Two. Mobile Objects: Female Desire
10. Chapter Three. Dressing Up and Dressing Down the Feminine Plaything 111
11. Chapter Four. The Female Accessory in Great Expectations 167
12. Part Three. Plastic Institutions: Female Marriage
13. Chapter Five. The Genealogy of Marriage 193
14. Chapter Six. Contracting Female Marriage in Can You Forgive Her? 227
15. Conclusion. Woolf, Wilde and Girl Dates 257
16. Notes 263
17. Bibliography 317
18. Illustration Credits 347
19. Index 349