title: How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britains Most Ineligible Bachelor and his Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate
author:  Wendy Moore 
description: Who hasnt dreamed of a perfect better half? But one eighteenth-century British philosopher attempted to make that dream come true. Moore (Wedlock, 2009) lays out the incredible true story of Thomas Day. Unable to find a spouse suited for the bare life of virtue he envisioned, Day set out to create her by taking two orphan girls and subjecting them, without their knowledge, to his wife-molding program. Moore wittily skewers Days pie-in-the-sky ideals as they clash disastrously with reality. This engaging account will appeal to a diverse audience, including Enlightenment philosophy students and Jane Austen fans. Day is ludicrous, insufferable, arrogantand utterly engrossing. His quixotic quest fired the plots of numerous fictional works, including Pygmalion, that examined the quest for perfection. The narrative pulses forward briskly, moving between Days story and those of the orphan girls. Drawing on detailed personal accounts, Moore creates suspense and surprise in a manner rarely achieved in biographies. An unusual and unusually fascinating story. --Bridget Thoreson
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  **Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv[erter,
  http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html](http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html)**
  
  
  April is nearly upon us, and with it a new social season here in London.
  Ambitious Mamas can be found at dress-shops all across town with their Darling
  Debutantes, eager to purchase that one magical evening gown that they simply
  know will mean the difference between marriage and spinster-hood As for their
  prey— _the Determined Bachelors_ — _Mr. Colin Bridgerton once again tops the
  list of_ _desirable husbands, even though he is not yet back from his recent
  trip abroad. He has no title,_ _that is true, but he is in abundant possession
  of looks, fortune, and, as anyone who has ever spent_ _even a minute in London
  knows_ ,charm.
  
  
  But Mr. Bridgerton has reached the somewhat advanced age of three-and-thirty
  without ever showing an interest in any particular young lady, and there is
  little reason to anticipate that 1824 will be any different from 182