A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontё, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf (co-written with Emma Claire Sweeney and with a foreword by Margaret Atwood), was published by Aurum Press in the UK and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the USA in 2017.
A Secret Sisterhood resurrects the stories of the important friendships and literary collaborations between Austen and amateur playwright Anne Sharp; Brontё and feminist author Mary Taylor; Eliot and Harriet Beecher Stowe, with whom she shared a celebrity status; and Woolf and fellow Modernist Katherine Mansfield.
Praise for A Secret Sisterhood:
‘Midorikawa and Sweeney have committed an exceptional act of literary espionage. English literature owes them a great debt.’ – Financial Times
‘[A] medley of vivid narratives’ – The Atlantic
‘Glorious insights into female rivalry and female solidarity and the delicate balancing act required to ensure one doesn’t override the other’ – The Herald (Glasgow)
‘[An] evocative and well-researched ode to female solidarity.’ – Publishers Weekly
‘Rich and revealing … these forgotten friendships, from illicit and scandalous to radical and inspiring, are revelations.’ – Kirkus
‘Important, illuminating and greatly enjoyable’ – The Telegraph (India)
‘As friends, fellow teachers and kindred scholars, [Midorikawa and Sweeney] carry the torch of feminist cultural criticism. Meticulous researchers, they leave no manuscript unturned.’ – New York Journal of Books
‘Extraordinary detective work … Readers interested in women writers and these authors in particular will find this work enlightening.’ – Library Journal
‘Enthralling, illuminating, and a treat for fans of any of the writers who are covered.’ – Booklist
‘A thought-provoking meditation on literary friendship… engagingly intimate glimpses of four of the world’s finest writers’ – San Francisco Chronicle
‘In digging up the forgotten friendships chronicled in A Secret Sisterhood, Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney have done much service to literary history.’ – Margaret Atwood, Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Handmaid’s Tale
‘A Secret Sisterhood offers a clever new perspective on established literary figures. While we may inherit family and circumstances, we get to choose our friends; and those these famous women writers have chosen reveal much that is fresh and fascinating about their lives and their work.’ – Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with a Pearl Earring
‘A Secret Sisterhood is a marvel. On the strength of a hunch, two friends embark on a research mission that winds up becoming a vital and necessary contribution to women’s history, literary history, and the literature of friendship. Beautifully written, rich with insight and feeling, this book is a must-read for anyone who knows that behind every great woman stands a great female friend.’ – Kate Bolick, New York Times bestselling author of Spinster
‘Genuine scholarship that reads like a detective novel … My nonfiction book of the year.’ – Amanda Craig, author of The Golden Rule
‘A Secret Sisterhood … helps to redress the marginalisation of serious non-fiction by and about women.’ – Karen Maitland, author of Company of Liars
‘Such an important, neglected topic: friendships between women writers and their influence on one another. It has long been downplayed – at last Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney are challenging this, with many fascinating revelations.’ – Jill Dawson, author of The Crime Writer
‘A Secret Sisterhood will help make women’s literary friendships of the past relevant to the present.’ – Michèle Roberts, author of Daughters of the House
‘Wise and exhilarating’ – Samantha Ellis, author of How to Be a Heroine
‘Brilliantly researched and eminently accessible’ – Emma Henderson, author of Grace Williams Says it Loud
Emily Midorikawa 