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It's 1888. A technological and commercial revolution has created a surge in opportunities for women workers. Cablegrams flash under the Atlantic and across the Empire at speeds of up to 30 words per minute, and a new army of secretaries, stenographers and telephonists is being recruited and trained to facilitate the trade boom.

George Gissing's classic 1893 novel The Odd Women follows the fates of two principals of a London secretarial school - the idealistic Mary and her tough, progressive business partner Rhoda ('The greatest spinster in English literature,' in the opinion of critic Rachel Cooke).

Women outnumber men in Britain by half a million but these new white-collar jobs offer an alternative to the drudgery of service or marriage. So this is a hopeful time for the Odd Women.

'It's better to be a woman, in our day,' says head teacher Mary. 'With us is all the joy of advance, the glory of conquering. Men have only material progress to think about.'

Mary and Rhoda's stories are interwoven with those of their pupil Monica and her controlling husband Edmund. Rhoda's relationship with Mary's worldly cousin Everard plots a gripping Beatrice-and-Benedick course as they manipulate, misunderstand and outmanoeuvre each other towards a romantic precipice.

Gissing's novels often surprise with their modernity and The Odd Women, with its naturalistic dialogue and complex characters, bridges the gap between then and now, Today's freelance labour market echoes the challenges faced by Gissing's educated yet low-paid workers - young women and men who struggled to find a new way of living together, and for whom marriage with children was either an unaffordable luxury or tragic mishap.

This late 19th Century classic launches Radio 4’s Working Titles season and is dramatised for radio by Christopher Douglas, the co-writer and star of Ed Reardon's Week.

Cast:
Narrator……Robert Powell
Rhoda Nunn…..Emma Cunniffe
Mary Barfoot…..Geraldine Alexander
Everard Barfoot…..Tom Goodman-Hill
Monica Madden……Ayla Wheatley
Virginia Madden……Bryony Hannah
Alice Madden……Karen Archer
Edmund Widdowson……John McAndrew
Bevis……Freddy Carter

Pianist Pamela White
Dramatised by Christopher Douglas
Produced by Jane Morgan

A 7digital production for Radio 4

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