In 1888, a little-known writer named Mona Caird ignited a firestorm of controversy when she published her essay "Marriage" in "The Westminster Review," arguing that modern marriage was a failure. Over the six month period that followed, the journal received some 27,000 letters in response, and only the Whitechapel murders of Jack the Ripper succeeded in finally turning attention away from the debate.

The following year, Caird published her three volume novel "The Wing of Azrael," which incorporated many of her views on the status of women and the problems with modern marriage. Viola...