“This reissue of David Painting’s 1987 biography of a remarkable Victorian woman is in itself remarkable for being a document of its time. . . . Amy Dillwyn evokes with significant skill the ethos of the age that bred the woman, and in its detailed familial, social, and political discussions can still count as a ‘touchstone’ for subsequent exploration of her life and work.”

Clare Morgan | Times Literary Supplement

“Dillwyn’s was a fascinating life.”

Victorian Studies

“One of the most remarkable women in Welsh history.”

Western Mail

“[A] thoroughly readable and entertaining account of a quite remarkable Victorian gentlewoman.”

Welsh History Review

“[Amy Dillwyn] offer[s] the reader a remarkably strong sense of Dillwyn’s own voice through quotations from her diaries. Painting’s discussion of his subject’s deep religiosity is illuminating. Even more skillful is his consideration of Dillwyn’s philanthropy from which his subject emerges as someone who possessed a profound and unsentimental compassion for those she sought to help.”

New Welsh Review