3.0
Regiment of Women
ByPublisher Description
Obsessive friendships lead to tragedy in this early-twentieth-century novel about a charismatic schoolmistress, a naïve new teacher, and an impressionable student—with an afterword by Melissa Broder, author of Milk Fed and The Pisces.
Clare Hartill is a brilliant, commanding educator at a private all-girls boarding school: the undisputed queen of her own small kingdom. But her tightly controlled world is disrupted when she meets Alwynne Durand, a nineteen-year-old teacher with no formal training. Alwynne's innocence and openness endear her to the secretive Clare. Alwynne is drawn to Clare's intelligence and sophistication. The two women fall headlong into an all-consuming friendship and begin planning a life together.
But their relationship is tested when an exceptionally gifted student named Louise enters their orbit. Louise will do anything to win Clare's approval. Meanwhile, Clare's jealous and manipulative nature slowly pulls Alwynne away from her friends, her students, and her family—anyone, in fact, who is not Clare Hartill.
Written in the early twentieth century by Winifred Ashton (under the pseudonym Clemence Dane), Regiment of Women is a complex tale of love and power that asks: How well do we truly see the people we love? And what are we willing to sacrifice for them?
The Modern Library Torchbearers series features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance.
Clare Hartill is a brilliant, commanding educator at a private all-girls boarding school: the undisputed queen of her own small kingdom. But her tightly controlled world is disrupted when she meets Alwynne Durand, a nineteen-year-old teacher with no formal training. Alwynne's innocence and openness endear her to the secretive Clare. Alwynne is drawn to Clare's intelligence and sophistication. The two women fall headlong into an all-consuming friendship and begin planning a life together.
But their relationship is tested when an exceptionally gifted student named Louise enters their orbit. Louise will do anything to win Clare's approval. Meanwhile, Clare's jealous and manipulative nature slowly pulls Alwynne away from her friends, her students, and her family—anyone, in fact, who is not Clare Hartill.
Written in the early twentieth century by Winifred Ashton (under the pseudonym Clemence Dane), Regiment of Women is a complex tale of love and power that asks: How well do we truly see the people we love? And what are we willing to sacrifice for them?
The Modern Library Torchbearers series features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance.
Download the free Fable app
Stay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
Rate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
Curate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesStay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building toolRate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tagsCurate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesRegiment of Women Reviews
3.0
“I do not claim to understand much of the political or social meanings that this book can interpret but I enjoyed reading it. It was a fascinating perspective on how ego can work and how it affected different people in the book. I read the last 100 pages in one sitting because I was eager for the payoff. Either way, I really enjoyed it and would recommend.”
“There is something to be said about the literary nuances of the 20th century - particularly in feminist and queer literature. We’ve witnessed this in other works such as Dorian Gray, Carmilla, Shakespeare.
Can these nuances be represented with a single objective statement or with quantitative reasoning? Or rather, should they be? Clemence Dane seems to think not (and I am inclined to agree).
Regiment of Women explores these complexities meticulously. Despite Clare Hartill’s problematic depiction as the “evil feminist lesbian”, her character is a stark contrast to the young Alwynne Durand, who is full of complex metaphysical observations and emotions. The dichotomy that exists between these characterizations of love and womanhood prove that humans are the product of their choices and experiences. With grace, Dane examines the human experience from a queer person’s point of view-proving yet again that queer literature can be just as beautiful as it can be convoluted. A dense but brilliant read.”
About Clemence Dane
Clemence Dane was the pseudonym of Winifred Ashton (1888–1965), an English novelist and playwright. She was an artist, teacher, and actress before she turned to writing. A prolific writer, Ashton authored thirty novels and sixteen plays over the course of her lifetime. Ashton also won an Academy Award for the screenplay of the 1945 film Vacation from Marriage.
Start a Book Club
Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!FAQ
Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?
Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?
How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?
Do you sell physical books too?
Are book clubs free to join on Fable?
How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?
