Sin, Sanctity and the Sister-in-Law

Name: Sin, Sanctity and the Sister-in-Law
Brand: Taylor & Francis

Taylor & Francis

This is the first book specifically devoted to exploring one of the longest-running controversies in nineteenth-century Britain \u2013 the sixty-five-year campaign to legalise marriage between a man and his deceased wife\u2019s sister. The issue captured the political, religious and literary imagination of the United Kingdom. It provoked huge parliamentary and religious debate and aroused national, ecclesiastical and sexual passions. The campaign to legalise such unions, and the widespread opposition it provoked, spoke to issues not just of incest, sex and the family, but also to national identity and political and religious governance.