How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain's Most Ineligible Bachelor and his Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate

Absolutely fascinating biography of both Thomas Day, his many love-interests and his brilliant social circle. I'm not sure what is more disturbing to me about Thomas Day's attempt to adopt an orphan child to raise up to be his wife -- that his society found this behavior eccentric but acceptable (to a degree anyway) or that so much of what we currently accept as educational theory grew out of the same ground. That's fairly inarticulate, but I really appreciated the wonderful depiction of an historical era that I'm fairly unfamiliar with, the straightforward narrative, and the somehow non-intrusive reality check offered by the author at regular intervals (remember, he's looking for someone to live in a miserable hovel and cater to his show more every whim, who wouldn't want that?). Ultimately, I think Thomas Day was a misguided sadist, but I'm fascinated that he was also an influential anti-slavery advocate and a man beloved by his friends for his virtuous life.
I'm glad that Moore took the time to flesh out Sabrina's story, and acknowledge her -- this is equally her story, and that is always apparent. show less

I loved this book. It's a wonderful combination of skillful narrative and exhaustive research into the 18th century lives of Thomas Day and his protegé, Sabrina.

More's depiction of Thomas Day brought to my mind Sylvia Plath's memorable condemnation of the 18th century's literati in The Bell Jar : "all those smug men writing tight little couplets and being so dead keen on reason." Day was born in to wealth and privilege, but nonetheless longed for a simple life of austerity and good works. He trained as a lawyer but made his name as a poet, children's book author, and early supporter of abolition.

Despite his wealth and accomplishments, Day was unkempt and socially awkward. He wanted a wife, but couldn't find a woman of his social class show more who would agree to live with him on his terms: severe conditions, isolation and total subservience to his wishes. After reading Rousseau's Émile, or On Education, he came up with an interesting "experiment": he and his friends arranged to sponsor two girls from the local foundling home for training as "apprentice" housemaids. Once removed from the orphanage, the girls were reared according to Day's exacting specifications with an eye toward his marrying one of them.

One of the girls turned out to be totally unsuitable and was dismissed. She was the lucky one. The other, Sabrina, grew up under complete financial and emotional dependence on Day, all the while never knowing that he was grooming her to be his wife. Eventually Day's "tests" of his intended bride grew abusive, even sadistic. Day's "experiment" in molding the perfect woman, fortunately came to an end when Sabrina stood up for herself. Both Day and Sabrina moved on to other destinies, with varying degrees of happiness.

Wendy Moore does an excellent job of breathing life into these long-dead characters, who lived in a place and time very different from our own. I highly recommend this book. show less

How would he ever obtain the woman of his dreams? Then out of the pit of his despair came a bold and daring plan...'
By sally tarbox on 14 Mar. 2013
Format: Hardcover
The story of Thomas Day, writer, law student and man of property. His great longing was for marriage - but he had stringent demands:

'Day wanted a life-long partner who would be just as clever, well-read and witty as his brilliant male friends. He craved a lover with whom he could discourse on politics, philosophy and literature as freely as he could in male company. He desired a companion who would be physically as tough as he was...For all his apparently egalitarian views on education, Day wanted his future spouse to suppress her natural intelligence and subvert her acquired show more learning in deference to his views and desires...She would regard Day as her master, her teacher and her superior.'

Not surprisingly, his two early attachments to wealthy young ladies were both terminated (by them.) Day then conceived a plot: he would abduct two twelve year old girls from an orphanage and train them up for the position of wife - the better of the two would be selected. One blonde and one auburn came to live under his care; he provided academic learning, expected them to perform all household duties and even tried to 'toughen them up' by firing pistols nearby and dropping hot wax on their shoulders. Following the teachings of his idol, Rousseau, Day sought a perfectly natural and unspoilt woman.

How his experiment succeeded is told in this immensely readable work, in which other notable persons of the era such as Maria Edgeworth and John Constable also feature. If this happened today, it would be on the front page of the Sunday papers! show less

A very readable tale of a rich Victorian chap who was likely autistic and fixated on finding a wife who met his list of stringent criteria. The narrative drags at times (the last few chapters could have done with some condensing) and the frequent judgey statements about the obvious hypocrisy of the main character seem unneeded and condescending but, overall, a solid read.

I happened to see the cover of this book sticking out of my library's shelves and thought it looked very interesting, and for once I correctly judged the book by it's cover!
A fascinating tale about a, or maybe THE, real life Henry Higgins who tried to create the perfect wife. Unable to find any one woman to conform to his strict guidelines for wifey material, Georgian gentleman Thomas Day comes up with a scheme to mold a 12 year old orphan into his ideal spouse.
A fascinating piece of well-known history I knew nothing about!

I picked this up via Netgalley; it is a documentation of a case in which a picky young bachelor decided to rear a couple of orphan girls as potential mates. Inspired by writings of the day which described the ideal rearing of male children, after a fruitless search for the virtuous woman of his ideals, Thomas Day decides to apply his skills and theories to selecting and rearing a wife from childhood years. There is, of course, no happy ending, unlike the many fictional spin-offs inspired by this story, but only a somewhat sad chronicle of what happens when a man tries to create what he thinks is the perfect future wife.

I found the writing style to be a little dry, though highly readable. This leans more towards the historical than the show more psychological or sociological, the latter of which are my interests, which is probably why I didn't find it nearly as interesting as I had hoped. show less

Thomas Day is very particular about the woman he wants for a wife and he can't find one so he decides to educate one, to create a perfect wife from an orphan he finds. He doesn't expect that she will rebel.

It's a good read, with interesting characters, and it does sometimes read like a novel rather than truth.

Interesting historical read.