EMILY MIDORIKAWA is the coauthor of A Secret Sisterhood- The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, The Paris Review, Lapham's Quarterly, Time, and elsewhere. She is a winner of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and was a runner-up for the SI Leeds Literary Prize and the Yeovil Literary Prize. She teaches at New York University London.
"Midorikawa’s chosen Spiritualists are a colorful bunch, and her
lively writing makes their careers fun to follow." —Christine Leigh
Heyrman, The New York Times Book Review
"This is the great strength of Out of the Shadows; it offers up a
tapestry of complex characters with conflicted motivations, woven
together with the color of ghostly apparitions (and angry mobs) . .
. Out of the Shadows pivots between the women’s extraordinary
savvy, intelligence and performance and the frequently unethical
and exploitative means they adopted to achieve their ends." —Brandy
Schillace, The Wall Street Journal
"Enthralling . . . Midorikawa has assembled and analyzed an
impressive range and variety of sources in building her
biographies, but also in delineating the social, scientific and
political changes that formed their backdrop . . . [A] thrilling
read, striking inter alia for the nonchalance with which these
female Victorian visionaries took on the rigours of transatlantic
travel, and for the incidental intertwining of their remarkable
lives." —Jane Haile, The New York Journal of Books
"In Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of
a Public Voice, Emily Midorikawa unveils the triumphant, tragic and
deeply unconventional lives of six of the Victorian era’s best
known spirit mediums. Midorikawa roots her story in both the
history of spiritualism and the powerlessness of Victorian women
like the Fox sisters—Leah, Maggie and Kate—who were left to grasp
for influence in seemingly manipulative ways . . . Midorikawa
breathes life into these long-ago women in ways that make them feel
contemporary despite their extraordinary circumstances and distance
in time . . . By the book’s end, it no longer matters whether you
believe these six remarkable spirit mediums were hoaxes or not;
you’ll certainly believe in them. —BookPage (starred review)
"Drawing on archival material and contemporary accounts of the
women’s personal and professional entanglements, Midorikawa briskly
recounts their eventful lives, accomplishing the goal inherent in
the book’s title. A well-researched, fresh contribution to women’s
history." ––Kirkus Reviews
"Entertaining and informative . . . Midorikawa doesn’t stint
on the drama, detailing money troubles, sisterly discord, poor
marital choices, and fraud accusations as she builds a persuasive
case for the Spiritualist movement’s considerable influence on 'the
journey toward female empowerment.' Women’s history buffs will
be enthralled." ––Publishers Weekly
"This enjoyable group biography presents Maggie and Kate, along
with Leah Fox (their sister), Emma Hardinge Britten, Victoria
Woodhull, and Georgina Weldon, as examples of Spiritualism’s role
in first-wave feminism . . . Brisk and entertaining, this biography
should draw the attention of readers interested in the social
effects of the Spiritualist movement, or in 19th-century women’s
history." —Library Journal
"[Emily] Midorikawa (A Secret Sisterhood, 2017) presents the
stories of six female spiritualists and the incredible impact that
they had on society and politics . . . The author does an excellent
job of characterizing the social milieu and constraints that these
women were subject to . . . This well-researched book offers
insight into a unique niche of women’s history, and would be a
worthy addition to most libraries. —Booklist
"If you've been bored or frustrated by superficial groupings of
women described as 'badass,' 'daring,' or 'fearless,' only to
discover the text is basically linked Wikipedia articles,
congratulations, you found what you were looking for all along: An
actual scholar who quotes salacious diary entries and intimate
letters alongside essential context and cutting analysis. I'm now
an Emily Midorikawa completist, and I'm quite certain you'll soon
be, too." —Alexis Coe, New York Times bestselling author of You
Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington
"Astonishing, gripping, and almost eerily timely. Midorikawa’s
tender, elegant prose is a joy to read and her fascination with her
subjects irresistible." —Julie Myerson, author of The Stopped
Heart
"This book is a treasure--a little known history about forgotten
movers and shakers, women who influenced our country in
unimaginable, and unseen (to say the least) ways. Reader: you need
this book! Take it home with you and learn about a potent part of
our history that you didn't know you needed to know. Written with
seamless clarity, Midorikawa has produced another true gem. I LOVE
THIS BOOK." --Mira Ptacin, author of The In-Betweens: The
Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna
"Public speaking was a disreputable occupation for Victorian-era
women--unless they were communicating with the dead, a skill that
turned out to be much in demand and often quite lucrative. Emily
Midorikawa's account of six women who were adept at working psychic
miracles offers a fascinating new view of fame, belief, and
feminism." --Laura Shapiro, author of What She Ate: Six Remarkable
Women and the Food that Tells Their Stories
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