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Normal Women
- 900 Years of Making History
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett, Tania Rodrigues, Nneka Okoye, James Goode, Joe Jameson, Philippa Gregory
- Length: 27 hrs and 17 mins
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Normal Women
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Summary
A NEW STATESMEN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
FROM THE MULTI-MILLION BESTSELLING HISTORICAL NOVELIST COMES THE CULMINATION OF HER LIFE’S WORK
- Did you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry?
- That the Peasant’s Revolt was started and propelled by women, protesting a tax on women?
- Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just that women were naturally inferior to men but that they’d evolve to become ever more inferior?
These are just a few of the startling findings you will learn from reading Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women. In this ambitious and ground-breaking book, she tells the story of our nation over 900 years, but for the very first time women – some fifty per cent of the population – are no longer invisible in this history of England, but are at its beating heart.
Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records to find highway women, beggars and shepherdesses, through newspapers and diaries to find murderers and brides, housewives and pirates, female husbands and hermits. The ‘normal women’ you will meet in her pages went to war, ploughed the fields, campaigned, wrote, and loved. They rode in jousts, flew Spitfires, issued their own currency and built ships, corn mills and houses as part of their everyday lives They committed crimes, or treason, worshipped many gods, cooked and nursed, invented things and rioted. A lot. They built our society to be as diverse and varied as the women themselves. They are there in the archives – if you look – and they made our history.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic reviews
‘A genuinely new history of our nation’ DAN JONES
‘Radically reframes our national story’ OBSERVER
‘This celebration of women is a triumph of popular history’ SPECTATOR
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 08-11-23
Fascinating social history of women in Britain
Just finished this sprawling, epic audiobook and I just have to leave a review immediately. This works its way from the Norman conquest through the centuries, talking about women's rights, roles and views as a continuous narrative, sharing first person quotes from women and examples of legal cases and primary sources, along with statistical information to illustrate the reality of living as a woman throughout the centuries. Covering changing social perceptions about gender, sexuality, gender roles, women in work, women's rights, abolitionism, racism, politics and class struggle, this book is revelatory. I haven't been able to stop listening and will certainly listen again. The voices and stories of women often ignored by historians are included here, including the stories of Black, lesbian and genderqueer women, (please note some historical terms are mentioned here which might upset some, particularly in historical quotations). This is a thoroughly researched, engaging and challenging work which merits long reflection. Some of the biting commentary had me laughing aloud. Absolutely recommended. The magnum opus of a truly popular and well regarded author.
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2 people found this helpful
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- PPG
- 05-11-23
Powerful Herstory of Britain
Brilliant and thought provoking.
Essential reading shows progress of women but how far we still need to go, especially with safety and empowerment.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-12-23
An historical masterpiece
No one has encapsulated the history of women in such a thorough, balanced, easy to listen to way. It needs to be heard in order to change the lives of women for future generations.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- TJ
- 04-12-23
The deliberate subjugation of women
This book shows that the deliberate subjugation of women over the centuries was worse than I even imagined . If only men would read this
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- SnowLady
- 03-12-23
Great read
Highly informative and well structured. Taking the reader on a fascinating journey through time from womens perspective gives and stories.
Loved it.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 03-12-23
Repetitive and biased
Firstly I should point out I’m a woman, and I’ve always loved Philippa Gregory’s work. Until now. So repetitive in titles and facts at times that I kept thinking I’d accidentally skipped back to an earlier point. The later sections are incredibly biased. Wish I had returned this rather than ploughing through it. This has really put me off Philippa Gregory which is sad.
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- Liz Parsons
- 22-11-23
Absolutely fascinating
Philippa Gregory explores the history of women over the past 900 years. Most eye opening is the history of the bread winner’s wage - we still have a long way to go to obtain equality, but the root of it goes back a lot further than I realised. Women have been repressed for centuries by men fearful of natural strength. Everyone should listen to this book.
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- L. Calder
- 07-11-23
A relentless stream of trivia
This book has a great premise but it seems to be just a catalogue of trivial comment about a list of women in history, no thematic gathering no analysis just random unrelated assertions many not backed by evidence which are sometimes contradictory - its 17 hours long I gave up after about an hour and a half and returned it
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