A desire to return to studies triggered extensive research into the lives of women in the 18th century. JANE HARRISON finds out from Jennifer Kelsey how her interest was turned into a successful book

FEMALE emancipation conjures up images of Suffragettes and of women in Jane Austen novels making gentle digs at men. But there are many lesser-known women who stuck out their necks, many in print, to expose the vast injustices faced by women in the 18th and 19th centuries. Women were considered second-class citizens, chattels to be traded for, literally, by men, or left destitute if they were foolish enough to remain unmarried.

They were ridiculed, scorned and pitied but, thanks to the likes of Mary Wollstonecraft (A Vindication of the Rights of Woman), Charlotte Smith, Sarah Fielding and, of course, Jane Austen, their plights were well documented and in some cases a better future for women was ignited.

In a riveting and sometimes shocking first book, former special needs teacher Jennifer Kelsey delves into their work.

Jennifer, 52, of Pitshanger Lane, Ealing, says: "Women were not educated to use their brain. They were educated to look beautiful, hide their intelligence and get married.

"There were sexual double standards. It was okay for a bloke to have a fling or to be married and have mistresses. Women had to be pure and innocent before they were married. If a woman was seduced, she was a fallen woman but the bloke was totally acceptable. Even women would look down on a fallen woman.

"Single women didn't have a place in society; a woman was defined according to her relationship with her man. A spinster, or old maid was looked down on. There was no opportunity to fend for yourself, so life would be very difficult."

Jennifer has great admiration for those women who used the subtlety of the written word to flag up the prejudices against women.

"Women were using literature to tease into the plots the way they were treated," she explains.

"What pioneers they were - and most of us don't know anything about them. A lot wrote from their own experience or those of their family.

"To be a woman writer was a huge achievement. Ironically when their work became popular, some men used women's names to sell their work."

One of the most shocking parts of her research was finding out how women were treated as objects to be sold into marriage:

'His arm is round my waist and he is brushing my arms and my cheeks and brow with his somewhat bristly mustache as often as he feels inclined - for am I not his property? Has he not every right to kiss my face off if he chooses, to clasp me and hold me and drag me about in whatever manner he wills, for has he not bought me?

He has paid a handsome price on the nail, without any haggling [2026] As for me, I sit tolerably still and am not yet actually sick.'

The mother of three grown-up children says: "I found this very shocking, a young pretty girl married to an old man for money or status."

So what piqued her interest in her downtrodden sisters, so compellingly drawn in A Voice of Discontent: AWoman's Journey Through the Long Eighteenth Century?

Jennifer had been a special needs teacher in the borough for 15 years, but after her children were born, found she had time on her hands.

She went on two short courses on women's history and Victorian literature, joined the British Library and read avidly, spending a 'fortune' on thousands of second-hand books, which now line a small bedroom, converted into a mini library.

"I was always interested in Victorian literature. The classes really opened a doorway. These women were

fascinating because they brought together areas I was passionate about. I learned such a lot. I didn't realise there was such an important link between literature and the history of women."

Jennifer discovered how authors like Jane Austen could make her point by making a character interrupt a sermonising man, the very antithesis of good womanly behaviour.

"She was very clever," Jennifer says. "It was a radical form of protest."

But Jennifer had never intending writing a book because she was having 'too much fun' and only bowed to pressure when the family told her not to 'waste the knowledge'.

The book, which is meticulously researched and took about two years to complete, was kick-started at the health farm Champneys and completed in the family hub.

Jennifer says: "Once I'd got the first few chapters done, I could do it with the family around me. I was in a mental bubble."

Daunted by the prospect of a 'million and one' rejections, she chose to get it self-published and even went so far as to get permission from the Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, Collection Maciet to use the sublime etching on the front cover. The image encapsulates the tenet of her work because the women are looking at 'unsuitable' literature, while their friend guards the door.

She has sold 1,000 copies here since December and a similar number in the USA and is still pinching herself that a non-fiction book is such a success.

She says: "When it came out and Iopened the box with my son here, Iwas delighted. It was a special moment, but it's taken time to feel it's real. When I had the book launch (at Pitshanger Bookshop) in front of

50 people, that's when I felt chuffed."

Jennifer is already working on her second book, which will be entitled Rule of exceptions about women doing exceptional things, such as Florence Nightingale.

* A Voice of Discontent is available from Pitshanger Bookshop, WH Smiths and Amazon.