Illustrations by Alexis Snell
Red Shed
March 2025
ISBN: 9780008725075
I am quite familiar with Philippa Gregory’s writing. Those books I have read are marvellous examples of historical fiction with such elegant blending of fact and fiction. But the title of this intrigued me as soon as I saw it. I had, in fact, no idea that is the ‘younger sister’ of the original [I must have missed that memo!]. When I requested it, I simply thought it was a stand-alone social history for YA readers but I am SO very glad I asked for it. It was, quite simply, fascinating, enlightening, infuriating, and hopeful.
The diminishing of women throughout history as we know, has been endemic, to most (but not all) cultures. And while we owe so much to those on whose shoulders we all stand, there is still SO very much still to address. It was serendipitous that at the same time I was reading this over a few nights, I was also listening to The Angry Women’s Choir [highly recommend!] in the car. Yes, as Barbie found out, the patriarchy is insidious and omnipresent and, to this day, continues to ignore and erase the contributions and achievements of women of all ages, in all periods of time. One aspect of this that I particularly enjoyed was Philippa’s authorial intrusions with side notes to either clarify, interpret or simply scorn with such scathing sarcasm we are clearly of the same tribe. There were many moments when I snaughled over these pithy comments.
I have the greatest admiration for the determination to bring to a modern audience, the epic, daring and, sadly often, fatal activism,adventures and antics of the women over this span of time, particularly when so many were mere blips in any kind of written documents.
I highly recommend it to your readers but urge you to consider the disclaimer that it does contain references to: sex, sexual violence, nudity, slavery, death, so, as always, know thy audience before handing it over. It was of the greatest interest to me so I know that adults would also enjoy this edition, especially if they feel the 700ish page ‘adult’ edition might be too much of a commitment.
Just fabulous all round and I give it a rousing 5 👩🧙♀️👧👩👧👧♀️ rating.
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