Abstract

This article draws on new research and recently available archive materials to offer insights into the life of Ménie Muriel Dowie (1867–1945)—author, journalist, and adventurer. She led a life of high drama, much of it in the public eye of turn-of-the-century Britain. Far from the Punch image of the New Woman as an ugly harridan, she was an object of fascination in the newspapers for her beauty and confidence. However, she passed from being one of the best-known women writers of the 1890s with two key works—the novel Gallia and a fascinating book of travel literature, A Girl in the Karpathians—into scandal to obscurity. She came to grief when she adopted the same attitude to sexual morality as the men in her circle. An examination of her life contributes to an understanding of the reception of the New Woman novel and the development of the cult of celebrity. [149 words]

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