The Romance of a Shop
The novel centers on the Lorimer sisters, who decide to open their own photography business after the death of their father leaves them in poverty.
The novel examines the opportunities and difficulties of urban life for the "New Woman" in the late nineteenth century, maintaining their right to independent opinion and the questioning of social norms.
The house and most of their belongings are to be sold in the coming week, leaving the four Lorimer sisters – Fanny, Gertrude, Lucy, and Phyllis – very poor.
The Lorimers receive steady business from friends and acquaintances through the fall, though many customers hold a prejudice and expect to pay less for their services than they would for male photographers.
One evening in October, a housekeeper arrives at the studio and requests their services to photograph the recently deceased Lady Watergate.
The Lorimers are hired to photograph the work of Sidney Darrell, a member of the Royal Academy prominent in London society.
After the Lorimers leave, Lord Watergate asks Frank if they might make photographs for him to use during his scientific lectures at the Royal Institution.
The work of artists such as Julia Margaret Cameron and Clementina Hawarden active in the mid-century helped advance the medium to the status of fine art.
When Aunt Caroline initially tries to convince the girls to marry she considers sending them to India to find husbands, which "works wonders in that regard."
Fanny initially rejects her suitor Mr. Marsh because he is poor, and leaving for Australia provides the opportunity for him to accumulate wealth over time and return to Britain with the resources to marry.
[2] Levy targeted a popular audience with Romance and strove for a commercially successful reception rather than significant literary achievement, a purpose which she reserved for her more serious work Reuben Sachs.
In an 1888 correspondence to Violet Paget, Levy wrote demeaningly of her aspirations in writing The Romance of a Shop in comparison to Reuben Sachs, stating "I have purposely held in my hand.
"[a] In Amy Levy: Her Life and Letters, Linda Hunt Beckman calls The Romance of a Shop "a model of the realism of its age," citing its narrational style, use of contemporary speech and topical references, such as popular songs and novels, and its clear moral vision.
[4] In her introduction to The Romance of a Shop, Susan David Bernstein identifies the novel as "on the cusp of literary modernism," and states that "Levy's writing reflects a shifting consciousness, a mode of representation hovering between romance and realism, between idealized versions of remodeled lives for women and men, and the mundane hazards of such social change."
[5] Gertrude, Lucy, and Phyllis Lorimer all portray aspects the "New Woman" of the late nineteenth century in their urban self-sufficiency, independent thought, and readiness to challenge accepted rules.
While the city is an ideal place for the Lorimers' studio, they are also subject to the gossip which spreads surrounding their business and personal lives.
The city streets offer a stage for the young women to move about freely and independently, especially on the recently introduced omnibuses, but can also facilitate danger for the girls, such as when Phyllis runs away with Mr. Darrell.
At the onset of the novel, Gerty is in the process of writing an ambitious verse-drama about Charlotte Corday, but abandons it to pursue commercial photography.
Later, when one of her poems is published in a popular magazine alongside one of Frank's engravings, Gerty plaintively muses "It is rather a come down after Charlotte Corday, isn't it?"
As Linda Beckman points out, in targeting a popular audience with The Romance of a Shop, Levy accepts, like Gerty, the commodification of fiction and sets an example to show that a commercially viable work and artistic merit need not be mutually exclusive.
[9] An October 26, 1888 review in British Weekly called it "touched by a true artist's hand" with "flashes of wit on every page" and claimed that "a more charming story we have not read for a long time.
"[10] The Jewish Chronicle, to which Levy was a contributor, praised The Romance of a Shop as a "bright and animated novel" but voiced concerns regarding Phyllis' "tendency to rather vulgar slang."
"[d] In his 1890 obituary for Levy in The Woman's World, Oscar Wilde praised The Romance of a Shop as "a bright and clever story, full of sparkling touches."
