# The Case of the Married Woman: Caroline Norton and Her Fight for Women's Justice - Hardcover

by **Antonia Fraser** (Author)

**Award-winning historian Antonia Fraser brilliantly portrays a courageous and compassionate woman who refused to be curbed by the personal and political constraints of her time.**

Caroline Norton dazzled nineteenth-century society with her vivacity, her intelligence, her poetry, and in her role as an artist's muse. After her marriage in 1828 to the MP George Norton, she continued to attract friends and admirers to her salon in Westminster, which included the young Disraeli. Most prominent among her admirers was the widowed Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne.

Racked with jealousy, George Norton took the Prime Minister to court, suing him for damages on account of his 'Criminal Conversation' (adultery) with Caroline. A dramatic trial followed. Despite the unexpected and sensational result--acquittal--Norton was still able to legally deny Caroline access to her three children, all under seven. He also claimed her income as an author for himself, since the copyrights of a married woman belonged to her husband.

Yet Caroline refused to despair. Beset by the personal cruelties perpetrated by her husband and a society whose rules were set against her, she chose to fight, not surrender. She channeled her energies in an area of much-needed reform: the rights of a married woman and specifically those of a mother. Over the next few years she campaigned tirelessly, achieving her first landmark victory with the Infant Custody Act of 1839. Provisions which are now taken for granted, such as the right of a mother to have access to her own children, owe much to Caroline, who was determined to secure justice for women at all levels of society from the privileged to the dispossessed.

### Author Biography

**Antonia Fraser** is the author of many widely acclaimed historical works which have been international bestsellers. She was awarded the Medlicott Medal by the Historical Association in 2000 and was made a DBE in 2011 for services to literature. Her previous books include _Mary Queen of Scots_; _King Charles II_; _The Weaker Vessel: Woman's Lot in Seventeenth-Century England_, which won the Wolfson History Prize; _Marie Antoinette: The Journey; Perilous Question_; _The King and the Catholics_; and _The Wives of Henry VIII. Must You Go?_, a memoir of her life with Harold Pinter, was published in 2010, and _My History: A Memoir of Growing Up_ in 2015. Fraser's _The Case of the Married Woman_ is available from Pegasus Books. She lives in London.

**Number of Pages:** 304

**Dimensions:** 1.34 x 9.06 x 5.91 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** May 03, 2022

## Details

- **Price:** 28.95 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 28.95 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Case of the Married Woman: Caroline Norton and Her Fight for Women's Justice - Hardcover

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