Wee Wifie: A Novel is a work by Rosa Nouchette Carey is a domestic fiction. Wee Wifie follows the life of a young woman named Jean, affectionately known as "Wee Wifie" due to her petite stature and endearing personality. Set in Victorian England, the novel explores Jean's journey through love, marriage, and the challenges of domestic life. Through Jean's experiences, Carey delves into themes of family, duty, and the societal expectations placed on women during the Victorian era. Carey's narrative is characterized by its focus on the emotional and moral development of her characters, particularly women navigating the complexities of their roles within the family and society. Jean's story is one of resilience and growth, as she learns to balance her personal desires with her responsibilities as a wife and mother. The novel also highlights the importance of kindness, understanding, and mutual support in relationships. Wee Wifie is a quintessential example of Victorian domestic fiction, offering readers a glimpse into the intimate lives of its characters while addressing broader social issues. Carey's warm and engaging storytelling makes this novel a charming and insightful read, reflective of the era's values and struggles.
Rosa Nouchette Carey was an English children's writer and famous novelist whose writings represented contemporary norms and were seen as wholesome for girls. However, "not entirely bereft of grit and realism." Rosa was born in Stratford-le-Bow, the sixth of seven children of shipbroker William Henry Carey (died 1867) and his wife, Maria Jane (died 1870), Edward J. Wooddill's daughter. She grew raised in London, namely on Tryons Road in Hackney, Middlesex, and South Hampstead. She received her education both at home and at the Ladies' Institute in St John's Wood, where she met and befriended the German-born poet Mathilde Blind (1841-1896). Nellie's Memories appears to have sold more than 50,000 copies. Most of her 33 three-decker novels portrayed devout, home stories, which were considered wholesome fiction for girls in the last third of the nineteenth century. Often sentimental, they represent the beliefs of the time, "treating housekeeping and the woman's caring role as real work." However, her 1869 novel Wee Wifie contains vitriol, opium addiction, and hereditary lunacy. Also noteworthy are Carey's empathetic portraits of women suffering from mental illnesses. Several novels argue that "control of the will," as recommended by psychiatrist Henry Maudsley, helps protect mental health. One of her novels, Heriot's Choice (1879), was serialized in Charlotte M. Yonge's journal The Monthly Packet, and another, Mistress of Brae Farm (1896), in Argosy.
