Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Ten top books about the suffragettes

Lucy Ribchester is a fiction and dance writer based in Edinburgh. Her first novel The Hourglass Factory debuts in the UK this month. One of her top ten books about the suffragettes, as shared at the Guardian:
Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier (2001)

Chevalier’s 2001 novel introduces the work of the suffragettes as part of a wider exploration of the changing role of women at the turn of the 20th century. As the Victorian era segues into the Edwardian, isolated and unhappy Kitty Coleman, mother of Maude, is introduced to the WSPU [Women’s Social and Political Union, the suffragettes]. There is no romanticising of suffragette activities here. The book deals head-on with the the choice then facing women between dedicating their time to a noble cause and their conventional role as mothers. The result is heartbreaking.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue