Isabel Allende’s “Two Words”
Many have tried to guess the two magical words whispered by Allende’s character Belisa Crepusculario, but the author has yet to reveal them.
Elizabeth Siddal, the Real-Life “Ophelia”
A working-class woman with artistic aspirations of her own, Siddal nearly died of pneumonia after posing for John Everett Millais’s iconic painting.
The Boston Athenæum
Founded in 1807, the subscription library was a gathering place for local scholars, “men of business,” and members of the upper classes in search of knowledge.
Laura Bassi, Enlightenment Scientist
The Italian physicist and philosopher was the first woman to earn a doctorate in science and the first salaried female professor at a university.
Catherine of Aragon: Europe’s First Female Ambassador
Remembered as the wife Henry VIII brushed aside for Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon was viewed as a strong leader and diplomat in her own lifetime.
Edgar Allan Poe (Sort of) Wrote a Book About Seashells
The American writer was an enthusiast of the sciences, which may explain his decision to “adapt” a text about seashells for publication under his own name.
June Miller: More Than An Erotic Muse?
Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller, two writers in search of sexual and literary inspiration, modeled their most seductive characters on June Mansfield Miller.
Eleanor of Aquitaine’s “Court of Love”
Allegedly, the noblewomen of Poitiers solved the problems of love, lost and found. But was the court real, or was it just the fanciful invention of historians?
The Devonshire Manuscript
The sixteenth-century handwritten collection of poetry and commentary offers a glimpse of intellectual life at the court of King Henry VIII.
The Manifesto of the 343
In a dramatic act of civil disobedience, more than three hundred French women publicly confessed to having had an illegal abortion.