Friend Beloved: Marie Stopes, Gordon Hewitt, and an Ecology of Letters

Friend Beloved explores the friendship between Marie Carmichael Stopes and Charles Gordon Hewitt, two ambitious young scientists who were connected by their love of ecology and their shared belief in the importance of home. The book reproduces letters written before the First World War and includes a reprinted scientific article and a chapter of Stopes's unpublished novel. Laura Jean Cameron provides a lively introduction and an epilogue that considers why their friendship was forgotten and how its recollection reveals early ecology's revolutionary promise and its colonial and eugenic entanglements.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 15 April 2021
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

Friend Beloved: The Scientific Correspondence of Marie Stopes and Charles Gordon Hewitt

Friend Beloved invites readers to embark on a captivating journey into the imaginative worlds of two remarkable young scientists: Marie Carmichael Stopes, the renowned paleobotanist who achieved international fame as a champion of birth control and a feminist icon, and Charles Gordon Hewitt, the esteemed housefly expert who became a trailblazer in nature conservation in Canada before his untimely death during the Spanish flu pandemic.

Ecology, a relatively new science that drew these two individuals together, found its roots in the Greek term oikos, meaning "home." Through the reproduction of a small but significant cache of letters written before the outbreak of the First World War, the book unveils their respective perspectives on home and its profound significance in both domestic affairs and scientific pursuits.

The book also includes a reprint of their co-authored scientific article from 1909, titled "The One Little Sin," which Hewitt considered a significant contribution to their field. Additionally, it features a chapter from Stopes's unpublished novel, "A Man's Mate," titled "Friends," providing a lively and thought-provoking introduction by Laura Jean Cameron.

In her epilogue, Cameron explores why Stopes and Hewitt's friendship was largely forgotten over time, and how its recollection sheds light on early ecology's revolutionary promise, as well as its colonial and eugenic entanglements. The book weaves together accounts of the professional worlds the correspondents traversed in Britain, Japan, and Canada, alongside intensely personal relationships that shaped the evolving nature of their field.

Friend Beloved serves as a powerful connection between careers and emotional trajectories, particularly at a pivotal moment in the women's suffrage movement and the shaping of modern science. It offers a unique glimpse into the lives and legacies of these remarkable scientists, shedding light on the complex interplay between science, society, and personal experiences during a transformative era.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780228005278