The Woman Who Did by Grant Allen

This Halcyon Classics ebook is THE WOMAN WHO DID by Canadian writer Grant Allen.  Allen (1848-1899) was a pioneering writer in science fiction and science; he also took an interest in feminism. 

In THE WOMAN WHO DID, the heroine is a young, self-assured middle-class woman who defies convention as a matter of principle and who is fully prepared to suffer the consequences of her actions. It was first published in London by John Lane in a series intended to promote the ideal of the 'New Woman'.

Allen was sympathetic to the feminist cause and saw his novel as a means to propagate women's rights. However, the novel was controversial right from the start, with conservative readers as well as feminists criticizing Allen for the heroine he had invented.