A Pen in Her Hand: Women's Letters - Women's Fates in the XVIII Century

The XVIII century is the age of letters. Correspondence conveys news, ideas, feelings, and commands the lives of even those who cannot write — private messengers, couriers, servants. The heroines of this book vividly reflect their era. They take up... the pen and write letter after letter. They sprinkle fresh ink with sand, fold the message in two, and seal it with their personal stamp. There is no place for them in the public space, among men — only behind the secretary in the quiet of their bedroom. Correspondences grant them freedom. Here feelings blossom, experiences pour out, philosophical questions arise. Thus, women in the XVIII century find their voice.
“Madame de Duffy, the salon hostess, who enjoyed only intellectual pleasures and turned correspondence into a true art of living. Madame de Pompadour, the all-powerful favorite, the trusted confidante of Louis XV. Catherine II, the autocratic empress and friend of Enlightenment philosophers. Julie de Lespinasse, an illegitimate child, the muse of the encyclopedists and a woman in love who perished from her own feelings. Isabella of Parma, a hostage princess, a philosophical archduchess, a skilled manipulator. Maria Theresa of Austria, the empress and a despotic mother.
Madame Roland, an intellectual who wrote so brilliantly, but, however, did not wish to be a writer. Marie Antoinette, the queen at the eye of the political hurricane, who had no other means to save the monarchy and her own life. Germaine de Staël, an ahead-of-her-time intellectual, who wrote and behaved like a man. The correspondences of these women allow us to glimpse into the very heart of their lives, understand their inner worlds, and feel their anxieties and experiences.” (Cécile Berly).