07/26/2025
Before the Brontës, before Jane Austen’s name dominated reading lists, there were two sisters whose novels once set the British literary world alight: Jane and Anna Maria Porter. They were not minor figures hovering at the margins of history. They were the bestselling, trendsetting creators of what would later be called the historical novel, weaving together romance, politics, and adventure in stories that captured women’s imaginations—and men’s, too.
Born into a family of modest means in the late 18th century, Jane and Anna Maria had to write to support themselves and their family, using their creativity as both a shield and a sword in a world that offered women few ways to earn a living respectably. They were young, witty, and socially engaged, hosting gatherings with prominent thinkers and navigating the shifting world of publishers and critics with skill. They knew how to network before the word existed, their letters filled with strategic plans to secure better contracts and protect their work.
Their novels took readers from the turmoil of Scotland’s past to the bloody drama of Russian battlefields, offering daring heroes and heroines caught in the sweep of history. Anna Maria’s “The Hungarian Brothers” was a sensation, and Jane’s “Thaddeus of Warsaw” became so influential that soldiers read it before going off to war. Their books often centered on love and loyalty tested by political upheaval, with women characters who displayed courage and intelligence while navigating the dangers of the world.
Yet as the 19th century advanced, the genre they shaped became dominated by men—most famously Sir Walter Scott, who, despite acknowledging Jane’s talent, eclipsed the sisters in fame and credit. Critics, eager to define serious historical fiction as a masculine endeavor, quietly rewrote the story, treating the Porter sisters as sentimental footnotes rather than the genre’s foundation.
Their financial struggles continued, worsened by publishers who underpaid them while others grew rich from the worlds they had created. They fought hard for recognition and stability, but as tastes shifted and Scott’s novels became the standard, the sisters’ contributions were erased from the public’s memory. By the time Jane died in 1850, she was nearly penniless despite the enduring popularity of her works, and Anna Maria’s legacy, too, slipped into obscurity.
But the truth is, the historical novel—a genre that allows readers to live alongside heroines in the thick of real past revolutions, heartbreaks, and triumphs—owes its existence to these women. They were courageous in writing stories that took women seriously as agents in history, not just as ornaments within it. They proved that women could write stories that were not only entertaining but also rich with commentary on politics, war, and moral choices.
