Out of the Frying Pan

This chapter explores Boyle’s first novel. It discusses its relationship with its parent texts, including Henry James’ What Maisie Knew (1897) and Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (1847). It explores the crime-thriller plot of the novel and examines the relationship between the popular and literary canons in Boyle’s fiction as well as detailing some of the context for her first book. This chapter argues that when Boyle turns to fiction she echoes the idea, frequently espoused by leading suffragettes, that sexual ignorance can lead girls into greater danger than knowledge. However, she also stretches this notion, allowing her fiction to encompass a broader interrogation of the idea of innocence/ignorance and protection as it pertains to discourses around women. Indeed, one of the most striking features of Boyle’s debut novel is the honest and straightforward discourse with which the book represents the emerging sexuality of its teenage protagonist. Perhaps more importantly, and unusually for a novel of its time, in doing so it ultimately asserts that her choice of sexual partner (especially her first partner) should only be afforded secondary status when compared to the other events that will come to define her transition from girlhood to maturity in the book.