Hello hello and welcome or welcome back to my little bookish corner of the internet. Today I’m sharing my review of Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries.
Synopsis
Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries brings together Kate’s rich and detailed knowledge of unheard and under-heard women’s history, and of how and why women’s achievements have routinely been omitted from the history books. This beautiful illustrated book is both an alternative feminist history of the world and a personal memoir about the nature of women’s struggles to be heard, about how history is made and by whom.
Split into ten sections, each covering a different category of women’s achievements in history, Kate Mosse tells the stories of female inventors and scientists, philanthropists and conservationists, authors and campaigners. It is the most accessible narrative non-fiction with a genuinely diverse, truly global perspective featuring names such as Sophie Scholl, Mary Seacole, Cornelia Sorabji, Helen Suzman, Shirley Chisholm, and Violette Szabo. And in deeply personal passages Kate writes about the life of her great-grandmother, Lily Watson, where she turns detective to find out why she has all but disappeared from the record.
Review
Finding the brilliant balance between world and family history, Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries is one of the most soul soothing books I’ve read in a long while. Kate Mosse embraces the wonders of both the known and unknown as she dives through the history of women in this wonderful book.
The chapters alternate between different themes in history such as scientists and literary names, and those with the title of “Lily”. These are chapters where Mosse dives into the history of her great-grandmother, who she finds was also a writer, but is no longer in print. Through her investigations of Lily, we are taken on a journey through time, where Mosse questions things like how Lily would have handled changes such as the Women’s Suffrage movement.
Finding out about this stranger, almost bringing her back to life, was hugely interesting. As well as learning about Lily, I learned about hundreds of other women that I had never heard of before. The many women that Mosse has researched and brought to light in this book made it a fascinating read. At times sobering, at others amusing, always powerful.
I’ve been on a bit of a non-fiction kick recently as you might have spotted, so you might see a few more history related posts popping up soon!
Thanks for stopping by, I’ll be back with more posts regularly as always!
And On She Reads 