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Title: To Read My Heart: The Journal of Rachel Van Dyke, 1810-1811 by Rachel Van Dyke, Lucia McMahon, Deborah Schriver ISBN: 0-8122-3549-5 Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $59.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: A Rare Glimpse into a Woman's Life
Comment: Here is something rare. Rachel van Dyke was a young American woman who wrote a diary from 1810 to 1811. Unpublished in her lifetime. Indeed, almost certainly never meant to be published. In her diary, she poured out the circumstances of her life and surroundings, and her hopes and dreams.

She was clearly an educated, middle to upper class woman, at a time when any such education for a woman in her social class was somewhat unusual, though not unknown. The diary is quite literate. Its value to us is as a mirror into the lifestyle of women of the early 19th century. Because the literature from that time that was published by women is very scarce. Social mores were against it. So that some writers, like George Sand, felt compelled to adopt male pseudonyms. Those women that somehow did get published had to conform to the expectations of men.

This diary, however, was presumably not subject to that censorship. A rare find. There are suggestions of a demure romantic interest with one of her male acquaintances.

The book ends on an uncertain note. Unlike a novel, there is no clear ending. Historians have been unable to trace her life afterwards. She disappeared into the fabric of American society. One can only hope that she lived it well.