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Can We All Be Feminists?: Seventeen writers on intersectionality, identity and finding the right way forward for feminism
by June Eric-Udorie'A map for how feminism can move forward inclusively' (GRAZIA), featuring essays by writers including Brit Bennett, bestselling author of The Vanishing Half, and Afua Hirsch, bestselling author of Brit(ish)Black Lives Matter * Trans Rights * Sex Workers' Rights * Body Positivity * Disability Rights * Immigration * British Muslims * Intersectionality * Latinx Identity * ColourismHow can we make feminism more inclusive? In Can We All Be Feminists? seventeen writers from diverse backgrounds wrestle with this question, exploring what feminism means to them in the context of their other identities. Edited by the inspiring activist and writer June Eric-Udorie, this impassioned, thought-provoking collection offers a vision for a new feminism that is truly for all.Including essays by: Soofiya Andry, Gabrielle Bellot, Caitlin Cruz, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Brit Bennett, Evette Dionne, Aisha Gani, Afua Hirsch, Juliet Jacques, Wei Ming Kam, Mariya Karimjee, Eishar Kaur, Emer O'Toole, Frances Ryan, Zoé Samudzi, Charlotte Shane and Selina Thompson.'As timely as it is well-written, this clear-eyed collection is just what I need right now' Jacqueline Woodson, author of Red at the Bone'Not just a key read but a mandatory one' STYLIST'The intersectional feminist anthology we all need to read' BUSTLEShortlisted for the 2019 Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing
Promising Young Women: A darkly funny novel about being a young woman in a man's world, by the bestselling author of THE RACHEL INCIDENT
by Caroline O'DonoghueTHE RACHEL INCIDENT - Caroline O'Donoghue's bestselling new novel* - is out nowA darkly funny novel about being a young woman in a man's world, by the bestselling author of The Rachel Incident'Like Nora Ephron's Heartburn, Promising Young Women positively thrums with relatability and honesty' IRISH INDEPENDENTJane is twenty-six, freshly dumped, and on the bottom rung of a lacklustre marketing career. She is also moonlighting as a worldly agony aunt. When an office party goes too far, she drunkenly tries out another role: the Other Woman. As Jane's affair with her much older, married boss takes off, she disregards the advice her alter ego would give and dissolves into being someone else's dirty little secret. But she's not the only one at her company to have taken the wrong path. As she finds her own health and sanity disintegrating, can she discover the truth before another promising young woman is taken under his wing?'Deeply relatable and darkly comic . . . It'll have you nodding with familiarity, thinking, laughing - and crying - as you race towards the end' GRAZIA'So brilliant, I highly recommend it' DOLLY ALDERTON'I loved it - whipsmart and so witty' MARIAN KEYES'Sharp, pithy and engaging' IRISH TIMES'Smart and spiky' METROAn Post Irish Book Awards Shortlisted Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year*The Rachel Incident was a #2 bestseller in Ireland in June 2023
Scenes of a Graphic Nature: 'A perfect page-turner' (Dolly Alderton) from the bestselling author of The Rachel Incident
by Caroline O'DonoghueTHE RACHEL INCIDENT - Caroline O'Donoghue's bestselling new novel* - is out nowCharlie's life isn't going forward - so she's decided to go back After a tough few years floundering around the British film industry and experimenting with amateur pornography, Charlie and her best friend Laura take a trip to her familial home on an island off the west coast of Ireland. Her father's health is rapidly declining and this could be the last chance to connect with her roots. But events on the island cause Charlie to doubt her father's childhood stories - and then there's her complicated relationship with Laura. Pursuing the truth will shatter everything she thought knew - but is that what it takes to grow up?'A gorgeous exploration of the messy and fragile nature of friendship and all the many forms of love' IRISH TIMES'A darkly humorous, keenly observed blend of millennial drift and murder mystery from a razor-sharp writer' RED'Witty, tender and insightful' GUARDIAN'A perfect page-turner. I loved it' DOLLY ALDERTON'Wonderful. Had me gripped' MARIAN KEYES*The Rachel Incident was a #2 bestseller in Ireland in June 2023
The Age Of Innocence (Virago Modern Classics #420)
by Edith WhartonSet in turn-of-the-century New York, Edith Wharton's classic novel The Age of Innocence reveals a society governed by the dictates of taste and form, manners and morals, and intricate social ceremonies. Newland Archer, soon to marry the lovely May Welland, is a man torn between his respect for tradition and family and his attraction to May's strongly independent cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska. Plagued by the desire to live in a world where two people can love each other free from condemnation and judgment by the group, Newland views the artful delicacy of the world he lives in as a comforting security one moment, and at another, as an oppressive fiction masking true human nature. The Age of Innocence is at once a richly drawn portrait of the elegant lifestyles, luxurious brownstones, and fascinating culture of bygone New York society and a compelling look at the conflict between human passions and the social tribe that tries to control them.
The Age Of Innocence: Revised Edition Of Original Version (Classics To Go Ser. #312)
by Edith WhartonSet in turn-of-the-century New York, Edith Wharton's classic novel The Age of Innocence reveals a society governed by the dictates of taste and form, manners and morals, and intricate social ceremonies. Newland Archer, soon to marry the lovely May Welland, is a man torn between his respect for tradition and family and his attraction to May's strongly independent cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska. Plagued by the desire to live in a world where two people can love each other free from condemnation and judgment by the group, Newland views the artful delicacy of the world he lives in as a comforting security one moment, and at another, as an oppressive fiction masking true human nature. The Age of Innocence is at once a richly drawn portrait of the elegant lifestyles, luxurious brownstones, and fascinating culture of bygone New York society and a compelling look at the conflict between human passions and the social tribe that tries to control them.
The World My Wilderness (Virago Modern Classics #15)
by Rose MacaulayIt is 1946 and the people of France and England are facing the aftermath of the War. Sent by her beautiful, indolent mother to England, Barbary Deniston is thrown into the care of her distinguished father and conventional stepmother. Barbary has spent her childhood years in the sunshine of Provence. During the War, she ran wild with the Maquis, experiencing collaboration, betrayal and resistance. In peacetime the young woman has been taken away from all she knows and placed into the drab austerity of postwar London life. Confused and unhappy, she discovers the flowering bomb craters around St Paul's Cathedral. Here, in the bombed heart of London, with the outcasts living on the edge of society, she finds an echo of the wilderness of Provence and is forced to confront the wilderness within herself.
The World My Wilderness
by Penelope Fitzgerald Rose MacaulayIt is 1946 and the people of France and England are facing the aftermath of the War. Sent by her beautiful, indolent mother to England, Barbary Deniston is thrown into the care of her distinguished father and conventional stepmother. Barbary has spent her childhood years in the sunshine of Provence. During the War, she ran wild with the Maquis, experiencing collaboration, betrayal and resistance. In peacetime the young woman has been taken away from all she knows and placed into the drab austerity of postwar London life. Confused and unhappy, she discovers the flowering bomb craters around St Paul's Cathedral. Here, in the bombed heart of London, with the outcasts living on the edge of society, she finds an echo of the wilderness of Provence and is forced to confront the wilderness within herself.
Crewe Train (Virago Modern Classics #16)
by Rose MacaulayDenham Dobie has been brought up in Andorra by her father, a retired clergyman. On his death, she is snatched from this reclusive life and thrown into the social whirl of London by her sophisticated relatives. Denham, however, provides a candid response to the niceties of 'civilised' behaviour. Crewe Train is Macaulay's wittiest social satire. The reactions of Denham to the manners and modes of the highbrow circle in which she finds herself provide a devastating - and very funny - social commentary as well as a moving story.This bitingly funny, elegantly written comedy of manners is as absorbing and entertaining today as on the book's first publication in 1926.
Crewe Train
by Rose MacaulayDenham Dobie has been brought up in Andorra by her father, a retired clergyman. On his death, she is snatched from this reclusive life and thrown into the social whirl of London by her sophisticated relatives. Denham, however, provides a candid response to the niceties of 'civilised' behaviour. Crewe Train is Macaulay's wittiest social satire. The reactions of Denham to the manners and modes of the highbrow circle in which she finds herself provide a devastating - and very funny - social commentary as well as a moving story.This bitingly funny, elegantly written comedy of manners is as absorbing and entertaining today as on the book's first publication in 1926.
You're on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir
by Parker Posey'Excellent . . . A celebration of peculiarity' VOGUE'Humour-packed, irreverent, eccentric' ELLEHave you ever wondered what it would be like talk to Parker Posey? On an airplane, with Posey as your seat companion, perhaps? In this ingenious, hilarious, and enchanting memoir, actress and star of movies such as Dazed and Confused and Party Girl, Parker takes us into her colorful southern childhood home, behind the scenes of the indie film revolution in the 90s, shows us the delightful absurdity of big-budget genre thrillers, and shares the creativity that will always be part of both her acting and her personal life.With whimsical how-tos, recipes, and beautiful handmade collages, Parker gives the reader a feeling of traveling by her side, exploring and celebrating what it means to be an artist.
Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times
by Carolina De RobertisLetters of hope, passion and courage, written in the wake of Trump's election, from some of our best-loved writers, including Junot Díaz, Karen Joy Fowler, Mona Eltahawy, Claire Messud, Celeste Ng, Hari Kunzru and Jane Smiley.RADICAL HOPE is a collection of inspiring letters - to ancestors, to children five generations from now, to strangers in supermarket queues, to any and all who feel discouraged by contemporary politics - written by award-winning novelists, poets, political thinkers, and activists in reaction to Trump's election. Including letters by Achy Obejas, Alicia Garza, Aya de León, Boris Fishman, Carolina De Robertis, Celeste Ng, Cherríe Moraga, Chip Livingston, Claire Messud, Cristina García, Elmaz Abinader, Faith Adiele, Francisco Goldman, Hari Kunzru, iO Tillet Wright, Jane Smiley, Jeff Chang, Jewelle Gomez, Junot Díaz, Karen Joy Fowler, Kate Schatz, Katie Kitamura, Lisa See, Luis Alberto Urrea, Meredith Russo, Mohja Kahf, Mona Eltahawy, Parnaz Foroutan, Peter Orner, Reyna Grande, Roxana Robinson and Viet Thanh Nguyen.
The Guilty Feminist: The Sunday Times bestseller - 'Breathes life into conversations about feminism' (Phoebe Waller-Bridge)
by Deborah Frances-White***Coming in April 2025: Deborah Frances-White's new book SIX CONVERSATIONS WE'RE SCARED TO HAVE***THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Breathes life into conversations about feminism' PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE'Very funny, very clever, very thoughtful and very relevant' DOLLY ALDERTONWhy do we find it so hard to say 'No'?How can feminism be more inclusive?What can rom-coms tell us about taking charge?The Guilty Feminist will challenge you, reassure you and empower you to see the world differently.From inclusion to intersectionality, #MeToo to men's rights, rom-coms to pornography, Deborah Frances-White tackles urgent questions for the modern woman. Featuring interviews with activists, businesswomen and all-round inspirations, The Guilty Feminist examines how women can abandon their guilt, say No (when they mean it), say Yes (when they want to), and to change the world - and ourselves - for the better.Includes interviews with Jessamyn Stanley * Zoe Coombs Marr * Susan Wokoma * Phoebe Waller-Bridge * Hannah Gadsby * Reubs Walsh * Bisha K. Ali * Becca Bunce * Mo Mansfield * Leyla Hussein * Amika George'Genius' Sunday Times'Funny, fresh, thought-provoking' Observer'Everything you wanted to know about feminism but were afraid to ask' EMMA THOMPSON'Quite possibly the defining feminist of our generation' ELIZABETH DAY'Encouraging every woman to say: "I get to be heard. I deserve to be seen" ' Daily Express'A passionate and engaging manifesto, reminding readers that feminism isn't one-size-fits-all' I
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of Virginia Hall, WWII's Most Dangerous Spy
by Sonia Purnell'A METICULOUS HISTORY THAT READS LIKE A THRILLER' BEN MACINTYRE, TEN BEST BOOKS TO READ ABOUT WORLD WAR II An astounding story of heroism, spycraft, resistance and personal triumph over shocking adversity. 'A rousing tale of derring-do' THE TIMES * 'Riveting' MICK HERRON * 'Superb' IRISH TIMES THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERIn September 1941, a young American woman strides up the steps of a hotel in Lyon, Vichy France. Her papers say she is a journalist. Her wooden leg is disguised by a determined gait and a distracting beauty. She is there to spark the resistance.By 1942 Virginia Hall was the Gestapo's most urgent target, having infiltrated Vichy command, trained civilians in guerrilla warfare and sprung soldiers from Nazi prison camps. The first woman to go undercover for British SOE, her intelligence changed the course of the war - but her fight was still not over. This is a spy history like no other, telling the story of the hunting accident that disabled her, the discrimination she fought and the secret life that helped her triumph over shocking adversity.'A cracking story about an extraordinarily brave woman' TELEGRAPH'Gripping ... superb ... a rounded portrait of a complicated, resourceful, determined and above all brave woman' IRISH TIMESWINNER of the PLUTARCH AWARD FOR BEST BIOGRAPHY
The Only Girl: My Life and Times on the Masthead of Rolling Stone
by Robin GreenA raucous and vividly dishy memoir by the only woman on the masthead of Rolling Stone Magazine in the Sixties. A female Almost Famous.In 1971, Robin Green had an interview with Jann Wenner at the offices Rolling Stone Magazine. She had just moved to Berkley, California, a city that promised "Good Vibes All-a Time." Those days, job applications asked just one question, "What are your sun, moon and rising signs?" Green thought she was interviewing for clerical job like the other girls in the office, a "real job." Instead, Green was hired as a journalist.A brutally honest, intimate memoir of the first girl on the masthead of Rolling Stone magazine, The Only Girl chronicles the beginnings of Robin Green's career. In this voice-driven humorous careening adventure, Green spills stories of stalking the Grateful Dead with Annie Liebowitz, sparring with Dennis Hopper on a film set in the desert, scandalizing fans of David Cassidy and spending a legendary evening on a water bed in the dorm room of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.In the seventies, Green was there as Hunter S. Thompson crafted Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Now, she presents that tumultuous time in America, written with a distinctly gonzo female voice.
You're the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women's Friendships
by Deborah TannenA Washington Post Notable Book of 2017.Deborah Tannen's bestselling You Just Don't Understand: Conversations Between Women and Men made us aware of the deep and subtle meanings behind the words we say. She has since explored the way we talk at work, in arguments, to our mothers and our daughters.Now she turns to that most intense, precious and potential minefield: women's friendships.Best friend, old friend, good friend, new friend, neighbour, fellow mother at the school gate, workplace confidante: women's friendships are crucial. A friend can be like a sister, daughter, mother, mentor, therapist or confessor. She can also be the source of pain and betrayal.From casual chatting to intimate confiding, from talking about problems to sharing funny stories, there are patterns of communication and miscommunication that affect friendships. Tannen shows how even the best of friends - with the best intentions - can say the wrong thing, how the ways women friends talk can bring friends closer or pull them apart, but also how words can repair the damage done by words. She explains the power of women friends who show empathy and can just listen; how women use talk to connect - and to subtly compete; how fears of rejection can haunt friendships; how social media is reshaping relationships.Exploring what it means to be friends, helping us hear what we are really saying, understanding how we connect to other people; this illuminating and validating book gets inside the language of one of most women's life essentials - female friendships.
The Seventh Cross (Virago Modern Classics #779)
by Anna Seghers'At once a suspenseful manhunt story and a knowing portrait of the perils of ordinary life in Hitler's Germany, The Seventh Cross is not only an important novel, but an important historical document. This new, unabridged translation is a genuine publishing event' - Joseph Kanon, author of 'The Good German' and 'Leaving Berlin''A masterpiece. Written in the midst of terror, but with such clarity, such acuity; Seghers is a writer of rare insight' RACHEL SEIFFERT author of A Boy in WinterSeven prisoners escape from Westhofen concentration camp. Seven crosses are erected in the grounds and the commandant vows to capture the fugitives within a week. Six men are caught quickly, but George Heisler slips through his pursuers' fingers. It becomes a matter of pride to track him down, at whatever cost.Who can George trust? Who will betray him? The years of fear have changed those he knew best: his brother is now an SS officer; his lover turns him away. Hunted, injured and desperate, time is running out for George, and whoever is caught aiding in his escape will pay with their life.The Seventh Cross is one of the most powerful and influential novels of the twentieth century, a tense thriller that helped to alert the world to the grim realities of Nazi Germany.'It was [Seghers] who taught my generation and anyone who had an ear to listen after that not-to-be-forgotten war to distinguish right from wrong. The Seventh Cross shaped me; it sharpened my vision' GUNTER GRASS'A fascinating insight into life in pre-war Nazi Germany just as the horrors of the Nazi regime were beginning to unfold. This is an important novel, as much for its picture of German society as for its insight into the psyche of ordinary people confronting their personal fears and mixed loyalties' SIMON MAWER, author of The Glass RoomIn The Seventh Cross, Seghers's aim was to write, 'A tale that makes it possible to get to know the many layers of fascist Germany through the fortunes of a single man.' She had four copies of the manuscript: one was destroyed in an air raid; a friend lost the second copy while fleeing the Nazis; another was found by the Gestapo; only the fourth copy survived, which, fortunately, she sent to her publisher in America just before she escaped Nazi-occupied France. Published in 1942, The Seventh Cross was an immediate bestseller and was the basis for an MGM film starring Spencer Tracy in 1944. It has been translated into more than 40 languages.Margot Bettauer Dembo's expert new translation makes the complete text of this great political novel available in English for the first time.
Dr Clock's Last Case: And Other Stories
by Ruth FainlightA collection of short stories from the author of "Twenty One Poems" and "Three Poems".A. S. Byatt's comment that Ruth Fainlight's poems 'combine Alice Munro's virtues with something more archaic and also, in exact clear words, give us a truly new vision of usual and mysterious events' can be applied with equal force to this collection of stories. Acutely precise and elegant, they move from vivid evocations of an American childhood and close studies of amoral expatriate life to erotic humour and black fantasy. The breakdown of a middle-aged man when the ghost of his mother, who perished in the Holocaust, returns to haunt him; the unexplained midnight arrival of three likely terrorists at the comfortable English village house of a university professor; a woman's half-reluctant marriage to her daughter's fiance: all these stories demonstrate Ruth Fainlight's uncompromising subtlety of style, and the range of her sympathies and imagination.
Dr Clock's Last Case: And Other Stories
by Ruth FainlightA collection of short stories from the author of "Twenty One Poems" and "Three Poems".A. S. Byatt's comment that Ruth Fainlight's poems 'combine Alice Munro's virtues with something more archaic and also, in exact clear words, give us a truly new vision of usual and mysterious events' can be applied with equal force to this collection of stories. Acutely precise and elegant, they move from vivid evocations of an American childhood and close studies of amoral expatriate life to erotic humour and black fantasy. The breakdown of a middle-aged man when the ghost of his mother, who perished in the Holocaust, returns to haunt him; the unexplained midnight arrival of three likely terrorists at the comfortable English village house of a university professor; a woman's half-reluctant marriage to her daughter's fiance: all these stories demonstrate Ruth Fainlight's uncompromising subtlety of style, and the range of her sympathies and imagination.
What are We Doing Here?
by Marilynne RobinsonNew essays by the Women's Prize and Pulitzer Prize winning author of Gilead, Home and Lila. In this collection, Marilynne Robinson impels us to action and offers us hope.'Grace and intelligence ...[her work] defines universal truths about what it means to be human' BARACK OBAMAMarilynne Robinson has plumbed the human spirit in her renowned novels, including Lila, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; Home, winner of the Orange Prize; and Gilead, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In this new essay collection she trains her incisive mind on our modern political climate and the mysteries of faith. Whether she is investigating how the work of great thinkers about America like Emerson and Tocqueville inform our political consciousness or discussing the way that beauty informs and disciplines daily life, Robinson's peerless prose and boundless humanity are on full display.
A Stranger City
by Linda GrantWINNER OF THE WINGATE LITERARY PRIZE 2020 `A superb piece of writing about London life. Past Wingate winners include Zadie Smith, Amos Oz and David Grossman' '[A] shimmering new novel . . . Grant's book is as much a love letter to London as a lament, an ode to pink skin after sunny days and lost gloves waving from railings' The Economist'A compelling portrait of contemporary London, it's a novel fit for shifting, uncertain times' Suzi Feay, Financial Times'A Stranger City feels like a very important novel for right now: no politically ponderous diatribe but a witty, sunlounger-accessible and deeply humanising story about people - about us - and the societal shipwreck we're stuck in' Evening StandardWhen a dead body is found in the Thames, caught in the chains of HMS Belfast, it begins a search for a missing woman and confirms a sense that in London a person can become invisible once outside their community - and that assumes they even have a community. A policeman, a documentary film-maker and an Irish nurse named Chrissie all respond to the death of the unknown woman in their own ways. London is a place of random meetings, shifting relationships - and some, like Chrissie intersect with many. The film-maker and the policeman meanwhile have safe homes with wives - or do they? An immigrant family speaks their own language only privately; they have managed to integrate - or have they? The wonderful Linda Grant weaves a tale around ideas of home; how London can be a place of exile or expulsion, how home can be a physical place or an idea. How all our lives intersect and how coincidence or the randomness of birth place can decide how we live and with whom.
Nobody's Victim: Fighting Psychos, Stalkers, Pervs and Trolls
by Carrie Goldberg'A rallying cry for privacy justice' New York Times'We need more warriors like Carrie' Tarana Burke, founder of the MeToo movementIn an era of doxing, revenge porn and online stalking, the law is failing us. Tech companies are untouchable and often women are persecuted. Carrie Goldberg built her law firm on battling these unprecedented cases - from stalkers haunting their exes through social media and dating apps, to schools suspending girls who report sexual assault, to trolls making fake bomb threats in their victims' names. Here, she tells her clients' stories alongside her own remarkable journey to become the lawyer she once needed.Gripping and inspiring, Nobody's Victim shows how we must rewire the legal system for the age of the internet and gives us the weapons to fight back.*Perfect for fans of She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, The Whisper Network by Chandler Baker and The Good Fight*
Crimson
by Niviaq Korneliussen'Effortlessly cool, funny yet sad, breezy but thoughtful - this is an edgy and unputdownable work of modern literature' Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti 'Crimson is written with immense courage - there's no faking the feeling of honesty on each page. It is a brave novel reminiscent of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting' Laline Paull, author of The BeesThe island has run out of oxygen. The island is swollen. The island is rotten. The island has taken my beloved from me. The island is a Greenlander. It's the fault of the Greenlander. In Nuuk, Greenland . . .Fia breaks up with her long-term boyfriend and falls for Sara.Sara is in love with Ivik who holds a deep secret and is about to break promises. Ivik struggles with gender dysphoria as their friends become addicted to social media, listen to American pop music and get blind drunk in downtown bars and uptown house parties. Then there is Inuk, who also has something to hide - it will take him beyond his limits to madness, and question what it means to be a Greenlander, while Arnaq, the party queen, pulls the strings of manipulation, bringing a web of relationships to a shocking crescendo. Crimson weaves through restlessness, depression, love and queer experiences to tell the story of Greenlanders through a unique and challenging form. The original text was written and published in the Greenlandic language.
Before the Light Fades: A Memoir of Grief and Resistance - 'Deeply affecting and unexpectedly inspiring’ Sarah Waters
by Natasha Walter'Deeply affecting and unexpectedly inspiring... the perfect read for daunting times' SARAH WATERS'Beautiful... illuminating and healing' JULIA SAMUEL'Eloquent, piercing, gloriously humane' PHILIPPE SANDSOne day in December, Natasha Walter's mother Ruth took her own life.At first, the grief and guilt that Natasha felt were overwhelming. As the author of feminist books and the founder of the charity Women for Refugee Women, Natasha had always been active in movements for social justice. But in the aftermath of her mother's suicide, her personal grief intertwines with a sense of political despair.Gradually, she starts to search back through Ruth's history, trying to understand how her life led to this death. She explores Ruth's own involvement as a young woman in the nuclear disarmament movement of the 1960s. Even though Ruth had been brought up to be a conventional young woman, she chose to take huge risks and break the law in order to stand up for what she believed was right. This was where Ruth met and fell in love with Natasha's father, the anarchist writer Nicolas Walter.Natasha also explores the history of Ruth's parents, particularly the story of her grandfather Georg. He was involved in anti-Nazi resistance in the 1930s in Germany, was imprisoned for three years and then went on the run across Europe. Eventually he got to safety, and never spoke again about his experiences.In thinking back through the years, Natasha comes to a deeper and more hopeful understanding of the legacy that her parents and grandparents leave her. No longer overwhelmed by grief, she comes to value the courage of past generations. She steps back into activism, and values the beauty of everyday life once again.Without false hope, this book explores why it is always important to stand up for what you believe is right, even when success is far from assured. This is a memoir that is honest about loss, but also searches for what is valuable in the legacy of one family that lived through some of the great crises of the twentieth century. It will resonate with those grappling with the loss of hope in these challenging political times, as well as those who are living in the shadow of bereavement.
Eve: the new graphic novel from the award-winning author of Becoming Unbecoming
by UnaA powerful novel of mothers and daughters, and how we imagine our future, from acclaimed author of BECOMING UNBECOMING'This is a disturbing and necessary book for our times, because it leaves us with a question. In EVE, Una describes a society in crisis, a dystopia which grows ever more familiar as we turn the pages. The characters are people we know, their conversations are words we've heard, their fears and anxieties are our own. Una has held up a chilling mirror for us, and leaves us with a choice - what kind of world will we make for ourselves? It could go either way....' JACKY FLEMINGIn the near future, in a world that seems just like our own, Eve grows up in a loving family that is increasingly threatened by a society which seems to be sleepwalking into totalitarianism. After a catastrophe that changes everything, Eve must set off on her own, over the wild Yorkshire moors, to try to find a new way to live. Eve is a book of mothers, daughters, human relationships, trust and community, human weakness, conflict, hopeful futures and painful pasts. It is speculative fiction that feels incredible timely: Una explores the rise of authoritarianism on both the political right and left and imagines where it might all lead.
Fruit of Knowledge
by Liv Strömquist'How I loved reading Fruit of Knowledge ... Clever, angry, funny and righteous, also informative to an eye-popping degree' Rachel Cooke, OBSERVER GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE MONTHFrom Adam and Eve to pussy hats, people have punished, praised, pathologised and politicised vulvas, vaginas, clitorises, and menstruation. In the international bestseller Fruit of Knowledge, celebrated Swedish cartoonist Liv Strömquist traces how different cultures and traditions have shaped women's health and beyond. Her biting, informed commentary and ponytailed avatar guides the reader from the darkest chapters of history (a clitoridectomy performed on a five-year-old American child as late as 1948) to the lightest (vulvas used as architectural details as a symbol of protection). Like Alison Bechdel and Jacky Fleming, she uses the comics medium to reveal uncomfortable truths about how far we haven't come.'Just the thing for all the feminists in your life' Observer Books of the Year'This book made me laugh in public (and also cry a little). It is the book I gave to my younger sister the next time I saw her because of its anger and brilliance and because it is an overwhelming source of knowledge about things we should all already know' Daisy Johnson, author of the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Everything Under 'There are moments of genuine hilarity, as when Strömquist pictures the dinner party chatter of men living under a matriarchy, and others of fierce anger in this wild, witty and vital book' Observer Books of the Year