Women's Role in the Late-Victorian England: George Gissing's The Odd Women and the 19th century Debate on Marriage and Divorce

7 
 
the indissolubility of marriage, the need to reform old laws on divorce, 
but also the improvement of young women’s education. 
During the years in which Gissing had faced his complicated second 
marriage, many of his friends tried to help him to overcome all his 
difficulties. One of these friends was Clara Collet, a loyal person who 
would support him all his life.  
Clara’s father was a journalist, she was three years younger than 
Gissing, who considered her as a typical New Woman; intelligent and 
cultured, she was one of the first women to receive a degree from 
London University and the first woman to hold a professional job in 
the Civil Service. She had also been a schoolteacher for several years. 
Clara was a fervent reader of Gissing’s novels. She was very 
independent and her attitude recalled the character of Rhoda Nunn 
(the protagonist of the novel The Odd Women). Clara started a friendly 
correspondence with Gissing, she also invited him and Edith to spend 
a weekend together, but he declined. She was small, energetic, with a 
pleasant face, she fought for women’s rights and, even if she was 
attached to several men, she never married. Clara finally met Edith, 
she tried to make her change, but she never succeeded. Clara was 
really fond of George and, at the same time, she did not put all the 
blame on his wife  but, when she realized that Edith was not even a 
good mother, she promised George that, in the event of his death, she 
would become Walter’s guardian; Clara’s help made him much less 
anxious, in this way he could continue writing his novels. Another 
important woman in Gissing’s life was Eliza Orme. She was close to 
Clara Collet in her interests and was the first woman to receive a law 
degree from London University. She was a feminist, another example