Housewives through History

Since I first started thinking about becoming a housewife and what that meant, I began to reflect back on where housewives came from in the UK. I turned  to my friendly Google to find out more. I've come across lots of different articles and books which have given me pause for thought - but most recently I've come across a book called 'Wives and Housewives - a story for our times'.

The book was written and published in Victorian times by a women called Miss Mary Hooper. Miss Hooper began by writing articles on cooking for a magazine before moving on to writing her own books such as Little Dinners and Handbook for the Breakfast Table . She became a Professor of Domestic Sciences at the Crystal Palace School of Arts, Science and Literature. She also wrote about how housewives could run their households, most notably in 'Wives and Housewives - a story for our times'.  Luckily the text of the book is available for free online at this link.

Wives and Housewives is a novel with a moral message.

Spoiler Alert - click below if you want to read a plot synopsis. If you don't you'll have to read something else.