Florence S. Boos is Professor at the University of Iowa. She is the editor of Working-Class Women Poets of Victorian Britain: An Anthology (2008) and many articles and two special issues devoted to Victorian working-class writings. She is also the general editor of the William Morris Archive and the author/editor of several books on William Morris.

1 Introduction: The Hard Way Up.- 2 Uneven Access: Working-Class Women and the Education Acts.- 3 Under Physical Siege: The Early Victorian Autobiographies of Elizabeth Stories and Mary Prince.- 4 Memoir and People's History in Janet Hamilton's Sketches of Village Life.- 5 The Annals of the Poor--Rural and Conversion Narratives: Elizabeth Campbell, Christian Watt, Elizabeth Oakley, Mrs. Collier, Jane Andrew, and Barbara Farquhar.- 6 The Servant Writes Back: Mary Ann Ashford's Life of a Licensed Victualler's Daughter.- 7 Ellen Johnston: Autobiographical Writings of The Factory Girl.- 8 From Servant to Schoolmistress: Janet Bathgate and Mary Smith.- 9 Truth,' 'Fiction' and Collaboration in The Autobiography of a Charwoman.- 10 Concluding Remarks.