'Not Just Jane': The women authors history overlooked

You know Jane Austen. You know Charlotte Bronte. You may even know Charlotte's sisters, Emily and Anne.

But there a fleet of other women authors from the era who have been reduced to historical footnotes.

Shelley DeWees, a Minneapolis author who has long been obsessed with British literature, gives these women their second turn in the spotlight in her new book, "Not Just Jane: Rediscovering Seven Amazing Women Writers Who Transformed British Literature."

There's Mary Robison, the actress-turned-courtesan-turned-prolific novelist. There's Dinah Mulock Craik, whose books were on the bestseller list, just under Charles Dickens. And there's Catherine Crowe, whose female detective character influenced crime fiction for decades — just to name a few.

Though many of their names have been lost to the archives, women authors were quite common in the era of Austen, DeWees writes — "you couldn't swing a petticoat without knocking over authoresses young and old."

Their works emerged from lives of leisure, DeWees told MPR News host Kerri Miller.

"These women had a ton of time on their hands. They spent their days working constantly to refine themselves, to be the best possible image of womanhood — to be the best dancer, the best French speaker, the best everything. But for the rest of their days, they had nothing else to do but cultivate their minds to an amazing level," DeWees said.

These women are seldom read today not for lack of talent, but for shifting tastes and divided attention.

"The way we divide who we should be paying attention to is really about us rather than about them," DeWees said.

For the full interview with Shelly DeWees on "Not Just Jane," and the British women authors history has overlooked, use the audio player above.