Amy Levy sadly only lived long enough to write two novels before her depression overcame her and she committed suicide. This, the first and less serious of her efforts, never quite emerges from the shadow of Jane Austen, but is still a worthwhile read for its treatment of women in the late nineteenth century.

After the passing of their father, four girls decide to unite their efforts and open a photographic studio in London rather than wait for fate and society to take them. They meet many obstacles before they attain their goal, first among which is the prurience of the society they are leaving.

However, as the chapters roll on by, this becomes less a novel about women at work, and more traditionally about women seeking marriage; anyone who has read more than one novel by Jane Austen will see the twists and turns coming a mile off. This is a shame, as a book firmly committed to independent women running a photographer's studio would have been even more fascinating than what we have here. That said, there is only so much liberal thinking one can expect in a novel of its time, and without books such as this we might not have had the great emancipation movements that followed. ( )