Vivid, informative and well written account of the lives of servants, drawn from the letters and memoirs of servants, from the 19C to today.
Category: 5*****
Blue Hawk
Immersive story about a textile worker, set in 17th century Gloucestershire. Blue Hawk celebrates female tenacity and ingenuity.
The Women Behind the Door
An ex-alcoholic mother and a traumatised daughter during lockdown. Superb, understated writing.
Briefly Very Beautiful
Briefly Very Beautiful conveys an aching sadness for a lost world, and the exhaustion of daily struggling in a hostile environment.
When We Were Silent
When We Were Silent is a raging, screaming #MeToo. It’s also very well written: well constructed and vivid, with strong characters and plot.
The Book of Secrets
We are plunged into 17th century Rome, where women strive to survive in a patriarchal world perhaps not so very different from our own.
The Ministry of Time
Secret government mission involving a myopic civil servant, time travellers and a plot to save our future. Gripping and beautifully written.
Violet Hamilton, Lady Detective series
Meet the most delightful detective ever written, Violet Hamilton, in No Life for a Lady and How to Solve a Murder Like a Lady.
Toxxic
A matriarchal world damaged by and struggling to move on from its patriarchal, violent past. A moving novel and a painful read.
What Doesn’t Kill Us
What Doesn’t Kill Us is a beautifully written, gripping and immersive, and still very relevant historical novel about misogyny and activism.