I’d never heard of Emily Soldene and I’m so pleased to have made her acquaintance. What a woman! In an era when women’s lives were often so restricted she took full charge of her own and went on to have a remarkable career, first in the theatre then later in journalism. This is a sympathetic, accessible and lively account of her life, meticulously researched, packed with social history and with many evocative illustrations and photographs, and it’s good to see Emily Soldene back in the public eye where she deserves to be.

Emily Soldene was not a typical Victorian woman. Fighting against the odds she became a singer, an actress, a celebrity, a business woman and later in life an author and a journalist. She had the 'X' factor.
The author is descended from Emily and this biography is clearly a labour of love. She writes with profound honesty and integrity and addresses many of the problems women faced in Victorian England. It also shines a fascinating light on music halls, comedy opera and Victorian tastes, prejudices and morals.
An absolute gem

I liked this biography of the actress/singer Emily Soldene, an ancestor of the author Helen Batten.
Born into a family whose women had to earn their own money, Emily married early, but had neither money nor home to live with her husband. She decided to take lessons in singing, and managed to become famous on stage, first in her home London and England, later on tours in the US and Australia. Her stage life included parts of her family too, and had its ups and downs, including triumph as well as struggle and rivalry. When it was over, she had success as a writer and journalist.
The biography isn´t only interesting because of Emily´s life, but also the life of women in the Victorian age and other connections of this time. The author is also critical about Emily´s autobiography, and adds other sources to her well written work.
Thanks to Allison and Busby and Netgalley for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Allison and Busby and NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

The Improbable Adventures of Emily Soldene: Actress, Writer and Rebel Victorian is an entertaining and very readable biography of a rather extraordinary woman—Emily Soldene who was a singer, actress, director, writer and much much more—a woman who wanted fame but also had a zest for life—a life she lived fully, with all its ups and downs, right till the end.

Emily was born in 1838 into a family of women who had been running their own businesses in a period when they faced many restrictions and conventions. Her mother Priscilla was a bonnet-maker in London, while her grandmother ran her own pub in the country. While Emily herself married early, she soon found herself wanting to become a singer, and more than that to be famous. Acting on this, she received training and started her career with a few classical music concerts but didn’t attain the success she had hoped for. She soon turned to music halls where she was successful and began to earn well before coming upon opera bouffe in which she starred in many leading roles. She also began to tour, not only in England but also America where she was quite well received. In time her half-sister, Clara Vesey, joined her as an understudy and her husband, Jack, too travelled with the group. But while Emily enjoyed the glamour surrounding the life of an actress, she also ventured into other pursuits, entering the production side of things, and even managing her own theatre company.


Her career in the theatre saw many ups and downs. Not only was it hard work, but competition, changing trends and tastes (among them the arrival on the scene of Gilbert and Sullivan), her own age and girth, and also the complications of running a company got in the way, besides the changes in other people’s lives (Clara’s marriage, the desertion of some of her troupe, etc.) and Emily often had to reinvent, try new things and face both failure and criticism (including rather unflattering reviews in the press). But she let nothing daunt her, sometimes even reprising old roles—not the most sensible decisions but ones that showed that she would never give up. And circumstances were also such that she couldn’t for her family depended on her earnings to live. But with the lows was also success, for instance, when she travelled with her group to Australia and New Zealand or even her initial trip to the States.

Even when her acting career finally came to an end, she found new pursuits which not only engaged her but also brought her some degree of success. She became a writer not only of a novel but her own memoirs, and also as a journalist in the mould of ‘new journalism’—a lighter, popular writing style—on a couple of Australian newspapers in which she wrote from London on a range of subjects from technological innovations (motor car drives to aviation, and even the first mobile phone, about which she was rather prescient wondering whether they’d be a ‘beneficent boon or a holy terror’), to fashion, political figures and social events (even the Olympics of 1908).

This was a really enjoyable account of a very remarkable woman who managed even in a time when social constraints were many to live life on her own terms. She may not have always taken the right decisions, nor were the paths to what she wanted easy but she never gave up (perhaps the necessity of earning a living was a major factor, but that still doesn’t take away from her perseverance). I also liked that Emily was ever ready to reinvent herself, try her hand at new things, even completely different careers and make the best of things. She had a zest for life which shows all through, but especially so in the later chapters on her journalistic career where we see her passion for technology and new trends, and also enjoy all life as to offer—food, clothes, parties, and such.

Many of the issues from prejudice against women in a position to the downsides of theatre life (the casting couch, for instance), were very much in existence then as well and are touched upon. Emily in her writing spoke against some injustices like women being faulted and condemned when in an affair but men being able to walk free. As the author points out, in living her life on her terms, independent to perhaps even more of a degree than women in later times, she did live in line with understandings of gender equality, freedom, and even feminism, even if she didn’t support women’s suffrage.

I enjoyed reading the book very much, and thought the author, Helen Batten has done a great job bringing forth this account of her rather fascinating and extraordinary ancestor.

I have had a few attempts to read this, and not enjoying it. This book is not for me. Not my Genre. I will not post on Amazon as it is my fault and I want to be fair to the author

This is a biography of Emily Soldene, an extraordinary woman who, despite the constraints of the Victorian era, managed to overcome the disadvantages of her birth to make a career for herself on the stage and, in time, to begin her own theatre company, before finishing her remarkable career as a writer and journalist. It's always interesting to read accounts of real people from history, particularly as notable women from this era are so underrepresented usually, and Emily really experienced a lot during her long life. Definitely worth a read for anyone with an interest in the period or in the history of theatre.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

A really interesting insight into a remarkable lady. Any theatre or opera fans will love this, but even if not this is a really lovely account. Thoroughly enjoyed.