A celebration of Mary Barton and the greatest 19th century literary heroines by women writers from Jane Austen to the Brontës. Writers like Elizabeth Gaskell question our views of Victorian women by creating characters who break the rules and challenge convention. Why are we drawn to Mary Barton and so many others? What sets them apart? Do they all challenge convention? And what were the writers of these incredible characters trying to tell us? Libby Tempest, Chair of the Gaskell Society, reveals all.