The adventures of Allegra Fullerton; or, A memoir of startling and amusing episodes from itinerant life

"In The Adventures of Allegra Fullerton, Begiebing conjures the voice and perspective of a young widow in the early nineteenth century, struggling toward independence and artistic fulfillment in a society unprepared to grant either to a woman. From her "stalking" by a powerful and dissolute young industrialist to her friendship with Transcendentalist Margaret Fuller, another independent-minded woman; from her artistic awakening in Italy, influenced by, among others, a young John Ruskin, to her re-awakened passion as a woman, Allegra Fullerton narrates her story in a voice that is wry, wise, but eternally optimistic."--BOOK JACKET. "The daily life of New England and Italy in the 1830s and 1840s - especially the circumstances of an itinerant portrait painter and struggling artist - is rendered in rich and authentic detail. And Allegra's own consciousness is very much the product of her era, even as she struggles constantly to transcend the limited role that society offers her."--BOOK JACKET.