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Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather
- Fashion, Fury and Feminism - Women's Fight for Change
- Narrated by: Tessa Boase
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Categories: Arts & Entertainment, Music
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Summary
When Mrs Pankhurst stormed the House of Commons with her crack squad of militant suffragettes in 1908, she wore on her hat a voluptuous purple feather. This is the intriguing story behind that feather.
Twelve years before the suffragette movement began dominating headlines, a very different women's campaign captured the public imagination. Its aim was radical: to stamp out the fashion for feathers in hats. Leading the fight was a character just as heroic as Emmeline Pankhurst but with opposite beliefs. Her name was Etta Lemon, and she was antifashion, antifeminist - and antisuffrage.
Mrs Lemon has been forgotten by history, but her mighty society lives on. Few today are aware that Britain's biggest conservation charity, the RSPB, was born through the determined efforts of a handful of women, led by the indomitable Mrs Lemon. While the suffragettes were slashing paintings and smashing shop windows, Etta Lemon and her local secretaries were challenging 'murderous millinery' all the way up to Parliament.
This gripping narrative explores two singular heroines - one lionised, the other forgotten - and their rival, overlapping campaigns. Moving from the feather workers' slums to the highest courtly circles, from the first female political rally to the first forcible feeding, Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather is a unique journey through a society in transformation. This is a highly original story of women stepping into the public sphere, agitating for change - and finally finding a voice.
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What listeners say about Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 01-08-18
Excellent
I didn't know this story and I loved it. The author is also a great narrator!
2 people found this helpful
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- Susan
- 06-06-18
Surprising, gripping and unexpectedly moving
This is the story of the women who set up the RSPB, campaigning against the fashion for feathered hats - an unusual, entertaining and, at times, shocking journey through high Victorian and Edwardian society. This was a world where every women had a hat, and some had hundreds of hats. A world where birds were thought to make pretty trimmings for these hats, and were slaughtered by the thousand for the milinery trade. I'll never look at another picture of a suffragette rally again through the same eyes, now that I know so many of them are wearing 'murderous millinery'. It starts with the feather industry, the poor girls slaving away making plumed ornaments to go on the hats of more fortunate women. Then come the bird-loving women behind the RSPB - I love the name and the character Etta Lemon, why haven't we heard of her before? Moving to the suffrage movement, which was an overlapping women's campaign, sharing methods and many members with the RSPB. Finally, the perplexing contradictions of women fighting each other - over fashion, over the vote, over a woman's place in the world. This is a rich, surprising and gripping story, beautifully delivered. I now want to see the pictures, so will probably get the book.
5 people found this helpful
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- Ms. S. C. Poyntz
- 29-01-20
The perfect audiobook
Wonderfully researched and written and beautifully narrated by the author - this audiobook is a real treat. It’s a fascinating look into the history and characters behind the RSPB and how they interlink with the women’s suffrage movement. I particularly enjoyed the narration by the author. One could argue that the author is the person who knows their work best and is therefore best placed to read the book but this only works if someone is a gifted narrator as well as a wonderful writer as Tessa Boase is. It must have been a fascinating experience to do the research on this book. There are so many interesting little details included that round out the characters. I can’t recommend this highly enough.
1 person found this helpful
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- The Leodensian
- 18-10-19
Brilliant
Really well written, so you switch between the two intertwined stories. It's captivating, entertaining and informative. I loved it and will listen again.
1 person found this helpful
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- Mrs Kate L Nash
- 05-07-19
Fascinating Listen
I knew a lot about the fight for women’s suffrage already but nothing about the history of the RSPB or the prolific feather industry of the late Victorian era. The book gives a fascinating insight into other political struggles of the time and juxtaposes them against a backdrop of female emancipation. It encourages the reader to consider all sides of the various arguments and leaves us to make up our minds about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, both in relation to the fight for the vote and the fight to prohibit ‘murderous millenary’. Highly recommend this to anyone who thinks they knows about the suffragettes or the origins of the RSPB!
1 person found this helpful
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- a112
- 25-03-19
Mrs Pankhurst
So much I didn’t know before listening to this. It was excellent. Highly recommend to all
1 person found this helpful
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- Miss J Woodward
- 27-02-19
Unsung hero’s
Well written and performed by Tessa Boase. We rarely hear about women’s history and thus book is an absolute treat.
1 person found this helpful
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- S
- 17-12-20
Brilliant
Tessa Boase has crafted a riveting exploration of two important women, each driven by her own single issue. Whether you are interested in birds or women’s movements, this is a fascinating work of creative nonfiction. What’s more, the author does a fantastic job with the narration.