in the African colonies calls Frank Jermyn away as an illustrator to report on war developments. His departure, possible death, and return is essential in the plot surrounding Lucy's courtship. Literary background Levy inserts many autobiographical details in The Romance of a Shop; for example, Gerty's poem which is published in The Woodcut is actually Levy's own poem "A Game of Lawn-Tennis" which had been printed two years earlier and would be reprinted in Levy's posthumously published Plane-Tree one year later. Additionally, Levy places Lord Watergate's residence at the home where the Levy family lived from 1872 to 1884. Levy targeted a popular audience with Romance and strove for a commercially successful reception rather than significant literary achievement, a purpose which she reserved for her more serious work Reuben Sachs. In an 1888 correspondence to Violet Paget, Levy wrote demeaningly of her aspirations in writing The Romance of a Shop in comparison to Reuben Sachs, stating "I have purposely held in my hand." Genre and style In Amy Levy: Her Life and Letters, Linda Hunt Beckman calls The Romance of a Shop "a model of the realism of its age," citing its narrational style, use of contemporary speech and topical references, such as popular songs and novels, and its clear moral vision. Levy intended The Romance of a Shop to target a popular audience, and utilized literary themes and techniques readers would find familiar from other popular fiction of the time. In her introduction to The Romance of a Shop, Susan David Bernstein identifies the novel as "on the cusp of literary modernism," and states that "Levy's writing reflects a shifting consciousness, a mode of representation hovering between romance and realism, between idealized versions of remodeled lives for women and men, and the mundane hazards of such social change." Themes The Woman Question Gertrude, Lucy, and Phyllis Lorimer all portray aspects the "New Woman" of the late nineteenth century in their urban self-sufficiency, independent thought, and readiness to challenge accepted rules. One contemporary reviewer remarked that Gerty and Lucy both possess "the independence which is characteristic of the times." However, Fanny's traditional nature serves as a comical foil to that of the progressive, younger Lorimers. In consequence, Fan is often dismissed as irritating or hapless by Gertrude. The urban environment Nearly all of The Romance of a Shop is set in urban London and revolves around specific neighborhoods and London