Aurora Leigh - Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Aurora Leigh is a relatively esoteric Victorian verse novel about a woman trying to gain independence and become a writer. It's basically Jane Eyre in verse. Gets a bit tedious at about book 9, but for the most part it is a very interesting poem with some wonderful poetic moments: "Behold! The world of books is still the world". A mixture of social criticism, lyricism and satire. The characters are more archetypes than anything else - there's no real realism or engagement there - but you can't have everything.
