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This volume focuses on a group of inter-related middle-class families who were unusually articulate, leaving two collections of letters, diaries, poetry, commonplace books and school books. The book is about local history as communication in literary form. The writers speak to each other across the counties and are linked in a Nonconformist family network. The first part of the text looks at how 18th-century young women with literary aspirations escaped from the typical girls' school to gain their real education from male friends, advocates of the "blue stockings". The middle part focuses upon a literary circle (mostly women) who combined spiritual piety with contemporary classical/pastoral romance, writing hymns but also exchanging playful verse with friends who were Baptist divines. The final part, covering the 19th century, follows this literary tradition through four generations in one village.