The modern reader may be surprised that one of Wells’ most shocking books – at least for his contemporaries – was not the one that took his protagonist to a world of savage Morlocks who cannibalize the ethereal Eloi; nor was it the book that had an advanced civilization invade Earth and reduce London to rubble. Far more threatening than these speculative romances was a book set in the immediate present, featuring a creature far more dangerous than either Martians or the Invisible Man. The novel was Ann Veronica, and its heroine was one of those dreaded “New Women” who haunted the pages of Victorian/Edwardian novels. Taking his cue from the Grant Allen’s 1895 novel, The Woman Who Did, Wells depicted a woman who defies the narrow expectations of society to choose love and education...
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Citation: Grasso, Joshua. "Ann Veronica". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 January 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6593, accessed 09 June 2026.]
