Mr. Hogarth's Will

"Mr. Hogarth's Will" by Catherine Helen Spence is a novel about women's empowerment. The story reveals women's insight into 19th-century society in Britain and Australia. It tells about the adventures and challenges of two young sisters who were thrown out on their own devices because of their uncle's will. Excerpt: "In a large and handsomely-furnished room of a somewhat old-fashioned house, situated in a rural district in the south of Scotland, was assembled, one day in the early summer of 185-, a small group in deep mourning. Mr. Hogarth, of Cross Hall, had been taken suddenly ill a few days previously and had never recovered consciousness so far as to be able to speak, though he had apparently known those who were about him, and especially the two orphan nieces whom he had brought up as his daughters. He had no other near relations whom anyone knew of, and had never been known to regret that the name of Hogarth, of Cross Hall, was likely to become extinct. He had the reputation of being the most eccentric man in the country, and was thought to be the most inconsistent."