The Odd Women

by George Gissing

"The Odd Women" by George Gissing is a novel published in 1893. Set in Victorian England, where women vastly outnumber men, the story follows several unmarried women navigating a society that expects marriage but offers few prospects. Among them are Rhoda, who runs a secretarial school while resisting romance, and Monica, trapped in a suffocating marriage born of desperation. As jealousy, pride, and conflicting principles collide, these women face impossible choices between independence and convention, love and survival.