"Rarely have I read a scholarly book with such absolute pleasure. In surfacing long ignored manuscript writings by Julia Howe, in particular her novel, 'Lawrence,' Williams has greatly expanded the known frontiers of women's sexual knowledge (and literary transgressiveness) in the antebellum era."—Paula Bennett, author of Emily Dickinson, Woman Poet
"A powerful and original contribution to scholarship on nineteenth-century American literature and domestic culture. . . . Despite the recent blossoming of interest in nineteenth-century women writers, Howe has received little attention, and she is overdue for just the thorough, intelligent, sympathetic sort of consideration Williams gives her."—James D. Wallace, author of Early Cooper and His Audience