I am a feminist author, having written about women’s history for nearly half a century. One phrase, "Dig where you stand," truly inspired me. Living in Oldham, I began researching the history of the radical suffragists across industrial Lancashire. Later, moving across the Pennines to Halifax, I gradually learned of Anne Lister of Shibden Hall—and became gripped by her diaries! Meanwhile, I worked in Adult Education at Leeds University & was a Reader in Gender History.
I wrote
As Good as a Marriage: The Anne Lister Diaries 1836-38
In 1973, this book broke daring new ground, inspiring me to become a feminist historian. Effortlessly, Sheila introduced readers to an extraordinary range of feminists—from C17th Mary Astell to Stella Browne, the C20th birth control campaigner.
No worries if you’ve not heard of these women: by the end, you’ll be as entranced as I was!
In this classic study of women in Britain from the Puritan revolution of the mid-seventeenth century to the 1930s, Sheila Rowbotham shows how class and sex, work and the family, personal life and social pressures have shaped and hindered women's struggles for equality.
She explores the different effects that changes in the process of production have on middle-class and working-class women; why birth control and the organisation of working women have been perceived as threatening to traditional male control of the family; how paid work and work in the home are intricately related and determine the social valuation of women…
The story of a courageous working-class woman growing up in the 1870s near Manchester.
Young Hannah, with just a meagre "fortnight’s schooling," had everything against her. But she never stayed down for long: she joined the new Independent Labour Party (ILP), becoming a suffragette. Then, disillusioned with the Pankhursts, Hannah joined the Women’s Freedom League. Later, she became not only a councillor but also a magistrate.
She has an inspiring story of never giving up and always keeping her goals in sight.
“My readers may not find it a very thrilling story, but I hope it will reveal to them the early dreams, secret hopes and half-realized ambitions of one very ordinary woman...Looking back on my own life, I feel my greatest enemy has been the cooking stove — a sort of tyrant who has kept me in subjection.”
'The Hard Way Up' is a unique and absorbing social document — a first-hand account of the life and struggles of a working-class woman who became a leader of the Suffragette and Labour movements in the north of England.
Separating the true stories from the myths, The Duty of Memory provides a deeper understanding of the diverse motivations that drove ordinary people to join an underground network of French Resistants despite terrible odds and horrifying consequences.
This book takes the reader inside the true story of men and women…
This book introduced young Anne's diaries to book-buyers for the first time. You’ll enjoy reading her recording in secret code (and in intimate detail) her affairs with other women.
"I love and only love the fairer sex and thus beloved by them in turn, my heart revolts from any other love but theirs." These are probably Anne’s words that will stay with you longest.
Discover the extraordinary diaries of the real Anne Lister: the inspiration for Gentleman Jack and Emma Donoghue's new novel Learned By Heart
'Engaging, revealing, at times simply astonishing' SARAH WATERS
'[Anne Lister's] sense of self, and self-awareness, is what makes her modern to us . . . The diaries gave me courage' JEANETTE WINTERSON
'The Lister diaries are the Dead Sea Scrolls of lesbian history' EMMA DONOGHUE
When this volume of Anne Lister's diaries was first published in 1988, it was hailed as a vital piece of lost lesbian history. The editor, Helena Whitbread, had spent years painstakingly researching and…
Anne Lister inherited Shibden Hall from her uncle in 1826, joining England’s landed gentry. But what was her historical context? Writing about Anne Lister's life in the 1830s, I grew fascinated by this impressive post-slavery research project led by eminent feminist historian Catherine Hall.
Although Anne herself never owned slaves, people in her circle did. You can search by name and locality on the UCL Legacies website. It opened my eyes to hypocrisy in British society then, and I’m sure it will startle you, too!
This book re-examines the relationship between Britain and colonial slavery in a crucial period in the birth of modern Britain. Drawing on a comprehensive analysis of British slave-owners and mortgagees who received compensation from the state for the end of slavery, and tracing their trajectories in British life, the volume explores the commercial, political, cultural, social, intellectual, physical and imperial legacies of slave-ownership. It transcends conventional divisions in history-writing to provide an integrated account of one powerful way in which Empire came home to Victorian Britain, and to reassess narratives of West Indian 'decline'. It will be of value to…
Ava Winston likes her life of routine in Lexington, Kentucky. Then a tornado blows it away. Ava is safe in the basement, but when she emerges, only one corner of her home stands. Rather than crumbling under the loss, she feels a load lifted. Maybe something beyond the familiar is…
This book tells the tale of the 1913 National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society (NUWSS) pilgrimage. I’ve always been irked by how the suffragettes and their arson campaign captured the headlines.
So here’s the other story. Suffragist pilgrims walked from all corners to London: down from Carlisle, up from Land’s End. This booktakes you with them, mile by mile—all for Votes for Women! Would you have taken part in 1913?
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Set against the colourful background of the entire campaign for women to win the vote, Hearts and Minds tells the remarkable and inspiring story of the suffragists' march on London.
1913: the last long summer before the war. The country is gripped by suffragette fever. These impassioned crusaders have their admirers; some agree with their aims if not their forceful methods, while others are aghast at the thought of giving any female a vote.
Meanwhile, hundreds of women are stepping out on to the streets of…
Sally Wainwright’s TV drama, Gentleman Jack, inspired by my Female Fortune, brought Anne Lister to global attention. If you watched Gentleman Jack and want to know what Anne did next, my book is definitely your next compelling read!
In 1836, after the deaths of her father and aunt, Anne and Ann Walker had the run of Shibden Hall. These diaries take us right into the rooms at Shibden, where the couple confronted challenges from within and without. Now, with access to Ann Walker’s income, the unorthodox couple traveled to France. Here, indomitable Anne climbed Vignemale, the highest peak in the French Pyrenees.
Brother. Do. You. Love. Me. is a true story of brotherly love overcoming all. Reuben, who has Down's syndrome, was trapped in a care home during the pandemic, spiralling deeper into a non-verbal depression. From isolation and in desperation, he sent his older brother Manni a text, "brother. do. you.…
Saving Raine is a captivating tale of resilience, redemption, and the enduring power of love, penned by the acclaimed author Marian L. Thomas.
This contemporary fiction novel chronicles the compelling journey of Raine Reynolds as she confronts heartache, betrayal, and loss. Against the vibrant backdrops of Atlanta and Paris, Raine's…
