George Eliot & Maxwell Gray 
Women Who Wrote as Men – A Short Story Collection 
The Gentler Sex, the more Literary pen

Today, we are all assured that being ‘ourselves’ is what we can not only strive for but will be accepted as. That has not always been true. In previous centuries, and even generations, to be a woman was to be second class. Mere chattel to do the bidding and whims of men. Perhaps a minor exception if you were Queen or of high rank but any male in near orbit was assumed to be not your equal, but your better.But in the history of poetry, plays and stories some of our very finest artistic achievements have been from the brains, hearts and pens of women. Some eventually were published as themselves. As mass distribution of periodicals meant publishers appetite required more stories and a female name might not deter or need to be changed. But not always. In this volume we discover many who, despite their talents, assumed literary names of men or at best used initials to blur their identities.George Eliot, Louisa May Alcott, Vernon Lee are but three in a host of many whose lexicons sparkle, whose narrative drive and gilded talents place these women at the forefront of everyone’s literature.The Lifted Veil by Mary Ann Evans writing as George Eliot Perilous Play by Louisa May Alcott writing as A M Bernard An Irish Problem by Edith Somerville & Violet Florence Martin writing as Somerville and Ross Amour Dure by Violet Paget writing as Vernon Lee An Unexpected Fare by Mary Tuttiett writing as Maxwell Gray Behind the Curtain by Gertrude Barrows Bennett writing as Francis Stevens A Lost Masterpiece by Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright writing as George Egerton The Death Mask by H D Everett writing as Theo Parker The Lame Priest by Susan Morrow writing as S Carleton A Rainy Day by Mary Elizabeth Hawker writing as Lanoe Falconer The Prediction by Mary Diana Dods writing as David Lyndsey