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Two Women by Jacqueline Rose review – a memorial to Gillian Rose
Jacqueline Rose’s novel *Two Women* imagines connections between her sister, philosopher Gillian Rose, and Edith Stein, a German Jewish philosopher who became a Carmelite nun and was murdered at Auschwitz. Moving between their lives, the book explores grief, faith and the barriers both women faced as thinkers; it also serves as a memorial to Gillian, who died of ovarian cancer aged 48.
The novel renames Stein as Esther Felsenstein and Gillian as Rosa Edelblum, with Jacqueline represented as Rosa’s sister, Clara. It follows Esther from her father’s death in 1893 through her nursing work in the First World War and eventual conversion to Catholicism, alongside the sisters’ upbringing in postwar west London and their academic lives at Oxford. Gillian’s memoir *Love’s Work* is presented as a frank reflection on suffering and how to live; Stein was canonised in 1998.
In short
- Jacqueline Rose links her sister’s life with Edith Stein’s.
- The novel moves between two women’s faith and intellectual lives.
- It reflects on grief, recognition and how to live.