Diana Stair by Floyd Dell

Set in the early 19th century. Diana is writer, a mill-girl, a school-teacher and an abolitionist. Though attracted to, and attractive to men, she is never without “some older woman to adore and emulate, or some younger woman to teach and inspire.” Delightful, ironic novel of the trouble women can get into when they refuse to fall neatly into the ruts laid down by conventional society for women’s lives. Minor variant content.