Courting Disaster

'Zo« McGee combines righteous feminist anger and flawless analysis, demonstrating not only how to read centuries old literature but why it remains so important that we do.'
Helena Kelly, author of Jane Austen, the Secret Radical

'In this remarkable, moving and beautifully written book, Zo« McGee charts a new path - from the eighteenth century to the present - for stories of women and consent. Rarely have the novels of two centuries ago so jumped off the page and into our lives as in Courting Disaster.'
Devoney Looser, author of Wild for Austen

'By turns witty, hard-hitting and compassionate, McGee explores how the eighteenth-century courtship novel from Samuel Richardson to Jane Austen anticipates and thoroughly illuminates our modern debates about sexual violence, victimisation, trauma, credibility and consent. Courting Disaster reveals the key role that writing and storytelling play in the ongoing battle against sexual violence, and convincingly demonstrates that literature can change our lives and better our future' .
Robert Morrison, author of The Regency Revolution

'With more memoirs being published regarding the treatment of young women by powerful men,
this book is now more relevant than ever. What were authors in the time of Jane Austen, and
Jane Austen herself, writing between the lines of their novels, taking a stand against similar
issues?'
Rebecca Williams, The Jane Austen Society newsletter