This colourful book explodes the myth of the passive Victorian woman, and demonstrates how women rose to the challengesof the age of empire and industry. Drawing on the new Victorian medium of photography, as well as the huge range of images from advertising and magazines, it creates a fascinatingpicture of the diversity of women's achievements at this time. Queen Victoria herself had a profound impact on her female subjects. She strongly influenced their attitudes to marriage, motherhood and bereavement, as she shared these experiences with many of her countrywomen. It was during her reign that many pioneering women pushed back the boundaries of the masculine world, and fought for recognition of their skills as doctors, teachers, artists and adventurers. Many of their stories are told here. In addition, the daily struggles of countless working women are movingly presented, based on the evidence of novels, paintings and their own first-hand accounts. From mill-girl to monarch, the resilience and vitality of Victorian women is vividly captured in this attractive book, providing a fascinating glimpse of how women carved out new roles in their rapidly changing world.