11 h 3 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 3 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if choosing your own life means walking out of the home that keeps you safe?
In a tidy London suburb, Ann Veronica Stanley wants to study biology, earn her living and choose whom she loves. Her father, Mr Stanley, expects obedience. Her family approves of Mr Manning, a proper suitor whose safe marriage would end her ambitions. In H. G. Wells's love story, a young woman's wish for independence turns family life into a struggle.
Ann Veronica leaves home for London, where a narrow room and small means test her resolve. The campaign for votes for women draws her into a wider struggle. Mr Ramage offers help with hidden expectations, while Capes, a biology demonstrator, treats her as an intellectual equal. Freedom brings choices that her father's rules never prepare her to face.
What you’ll discover
- A heroine learning freedom Follow a clever student who makes mistakes rather than quietly surrendering her ambitions.
- Love beyond family approval Explore the tension between a suitable marriage and the right to choose a partner.
- The suffrage struggle Enter a circle of feminists as Ann Veronica encounters the campaign for women's votes.
- Edwardian life up close Move through suburbs, hostels and lecture rooms in a lively, sometimes sharp social portrait.
- Humour with an edge Enjoy Wells's brisk storytelling as he questions the rules that keep women dependent.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy spirited heroines, witty social comedy, stories of young people leaving home, and lively arguments about love, work and women's votes.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A small ban becomes a crisis at home
- Her father cannot picture a grown daughter
- A reasonable talk meets a wall
- Everyone offers her a theory of womanhood
- The walk, the locked door and the flight
- Work is scarce, movements are many, a loan is offered
- A private room, a raid and a prison cell
- Freedom and dependence are tied together
- Desire is the force beneath everything
- A comic voice carries a serious argument
Who’s who
- Ann Veronica StanleyA clever science student in her early twenties who wants to learn, earn her living and belong to herself.
- Peter StanleyHer father, a worried solicitor who loves her but cannot picture a grown daughter and wants her safe at home.
- Aunt MollyHer father's sister, who mothers Ann Veronica and fears the neighbors, and who wants to see her married.
- Mr ManningA poetic civil servant who treats women as queens and proposes marriage in a long letter.
- Mr RamageA wealthy stockbroker and neighbor who offers friendship and a loan, and wants something in return.
- CapesThe fair-haired demonstrator in the biology laboratory, witty and changeable, who draws her interest.
- Miss MiniverAn earnest campaigner who talks of women's wrongs and hopes the vote will cure them.
- Teddy WidgettA loyal young neighbor devoted to Ann Veronica, who will do anything to help her.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
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- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 15 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Ann Veronica: Una moderna storia d'amore
by H. G. Wells · 1909
A clever girl leaves a quiet suburb for London with borrowed bags and a fierce will.
Medium level5–10 hours to readItaliano
Excellent
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In short
Ann Veronica Stanley rides the train home from London one September afternoon, determined to settle things with her father that very evening. She is nearly twenty-two, top of her year in science, and forbidden to attend an art students' fancy-dress ball.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A small ban becomes a crisis at home
The novel opens with Ann Veronica on the train to Morningside Park, a London suburb that never quite took off. She has black hair, hazel eyes and a reserved manner that hides a fierce hunger for life. She is so lost in thought that she mistakes the arriving train for a departing one.
The trigger is the Fadden Dance, an art school ball where she means to appear as a Corsair's bride. Her father has forbidden it by letter, which she finds cowardly. She suspects her aunt is behind it. From a stile on the hill she looks over the villas and decides the whole place is stuffy.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1909
- Language
- Italiano
- Reading time
- 7 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Wells, H. G. Ann Veronica: A Modern Love Story. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/ann-veronica-a-modern-love-story.
Wells, H. G. (2026). Ann Veronica: A modern love story. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/ann-veronica-a-modern-love-story (Original work published 1909)
Wells, H. G. Ann Veronica: A Modern Love Story. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/ann-veronica-a-modern-love-story.
@book{wells2026ann,
author = {Wells, H. G.},
title = {Ann Veronica: A Modern Love Story},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/ann-veronica-a-modern-love-story},
note = {First published 1909}
}
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What is Ann Veronica about?
It tells of a clever young woman in a London suburb who leaves her strict father's house to study, earn her living and find love. Along the way she tries lodgings, job hunts, reform meetings and the suffragettes.
Who is Ann Veronica based on?
She is a made-up character, drawn from the debates of her time about women's education, work and the vote. The book makes her speak for many young women who wanted a life of their own.
When was Ann Veronica written?
H. G. Wells published it in 1909, during the campaign for women's votes. It follows the real suffrage meetings and protests of the period, and it was widely discussed for its frank view of a woman's wishes.
The author
H. G. Wells
1866–1946 · English science fiction novelist
H. G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer born in Bromley, Kent. He wrote novels, short stories and nonfiction. His novels included The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898). He died in London.
More by H. G. Wells
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