For many years, Jane Blanks existed in my life as a name in a parish register. She appeared in court records, census returns, newspaper reports — always described, never speaking. Her life was reduced to categories: illegitimate child, deceived wife, immoral woman, parish burden. The more I read, the clearer it became that this was not a woman without agency, but a woman whose voice had been repeatedly taken from her. My interest in stories like Jane’s began long before I dis