By their teens, Jane and Maria were remarkably well connected for girls who'd been brought up in straitened circumstances. That was thanks, in part, to their artist-brother Robert's securing a place at the Royal Academy Schools. As the Porter sisters made their way in London, across the tumultuous 1790s, they began to publish their writings. In the process, they developed an even more extensive network of brilliant friends, from many walks of life, including abolitionists, actors, artists, authors, bankers, courtesans, enslavers, feminists, military men, nobility, royalty, and war heroes. As they aged, the Porter sisters also proved incredibly loyal to old friends and neighbors, including those of little wealth or no social status. The extra illustration gallery below includes images of the people in the Porters' social circle—images that are either not found in the pages of Sister Novelists or provided here as supplements to those included there.