Their Other Side: Six American Women and the Lure of Italy Book

This was a great book, she focuses on female writers, artists, editors/patrons, humanitarians obsessed with Italy, some only in their imaginations and some that lived there. From the more well known Emily Dickinson to the more obscure Constance Woolson (a relative of James Fennimore Cooper), Mabel Dodge Luhan, Marguerite Caetani, and Iris Origo. Very interesting to me was Constance Woolson, who had a sort of hot/cold friendship with Henry James -- and she was a writer herself apart from their relationship and quite a collector. Unfortunately a niece donated it all to a small college in Florida (Rollins), which allowed the small house it was housed in and most of the collection to be destroyed/stolen and what remains is sort of rightfully locked down. A lot of Janeites read and praise James -- but I'm seeing him and his characters differently after this book. Allegedly he based a lot of his "spinster" characters on "Connie" and think he got a lot more success because of his being a male writer than she did which was frustrating to her as well as his sometimes indifferent treatment/dismissal of her friendship/relationship. Worth a read.