death prevented her from doing. Early on, Jewsbury developed passionate feelings for Jane, as surviving letters reveal. On the other hand, early accounts of Jane reveal ambivalence towards Jewsbury. When Carlyle proposed that Jewsbury visit them at 5 Cheyne Row in 1843, Jane hesitated, finally admitting to Carlyle: "'Why I am afraid that having her beside me from morning till night would be dreadfully wearing'!" She complained of how Jewsbury was "always in a state of emotion! dropping hot tears on my hands, and watching me and fussing me". Jane and Jewsbury weathered many disagreements, especially over the role of women, as Jane was a famously dutiful wife, who never considered a career of her own. However, the friendship lasted over 25 years; Jane attempted (unsuccessfully) to find suitors for Jewsbury, and Jewsbury nursed Jane through periods of illness. Their relationship was studied by literary scholars, including Virginia Woolf in her article on Jewsbury’s letters to Jane. It also contributed to Jewsbury's appearance in print that Jane helped to edit her first two books. Novels Jewsbury was primarily a novelist of ideas and moral dilemmas, who sharply questioned the standard, idealised roles of wife and mother and promoted the spiritual value of work in a woman's life. She often made her female characters wiser and more capable than the male ones. Her first novel, Zoe: the History of Two Lives (1845), tells of a girl who falls in love with a Catholic priest, causing him to lapse from his faith. The story carries a strong theme of doubt, not only about religious belief, but about marriage as a woman's prime destiny. It was initially rejected by the publisher, but later accepted after an intervention by Thomas Carlyle. It was an immediate success, and praised by the Manchester Examiner as "striking" and "clever", although other reviews were mixed. As a novel of scepticism, it can be classed with the work of Charlotte Mary Yonge and Mrs Humphry Ward, while the linking of sexual feelings with spiritual anguish brought comparisons with George Sand. Jewsbury's next novel, The Half Sisters (1848), also questions the role of wife and mother, which are seen as unsatisfying and limiting. The life of the conventional woman, Alice, compares unfavourably with that of her half-sister Bianca, who works as an actress to support an insane mother. The character of Alice carries touches of Jane Carlyle, while Bianca is