O'Grady presents Addison in several different lights: as a woman learning to assert herself in the hitherto male world of university governance; as an administrator dealing with questions of individual freedom and group standards at a time when the permissible limits of behaviour were expanding; as a former Methodist who learned to modify her beliefs while retaining her core Christianity; and as an advocate for more fulfiling lives for women who was forced to deal with questions of co-education, the possibility of gender-neutral studies, and the nature of womanliness. O'Grady clearly shows that Addison wanted to make a difference in the world and did so B her innovations, such as student government and lectures on careers and sex education, were widely copied in other universities. Drawing on archival material and writing in an accessible style, O'Grady captures the flavour of life in Annesley Hall under Addison's regime and uncovers part of the buried mosaic of the lives of Canadian women.

Jean O'Grady served as the associate editor of The Collected Works of Northrop Frye. She also worked for nine years as a post-doctoral fellow on The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, and is the author of the biography of Margaret Addison, the first dean of women at Victoria College.

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"Jean O'Grady presents a vivid and compelling study of university life for women during this period of significant transition. She has done a masterful job in clarifying the enigma that was Margaret Addison with a solid academic presentation, well-seasoned with a good balance of anecdotes that breathe life and energy into the chronicle, and into Addison and her associates. This book seriously advances the work in the field and will be a model for historians and students of history for a long time." Neil Semple, author of The Lord's Dominion: The History of Canadian Methodism "Jean O'Grady has given us a very impressive book based on very careful research and dealing with a very important period in Canada's intellectual history." John Webster Grant, Professor Emeritus, Emmanuel College of Victoria University