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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
‘A lasting work of social history’ THE TIMES
‘A genuinely new history of our nation’ DAN JONES
‘This celebration of women is a triumph of popular history’ SPECTATOR
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.
‘You’ll lose count of the number of things you learn about women and their skewed place in history as you read Philippa Gregory’s stunning Normal Women … the book reframes the past … an essential read’ INDEPENDENT, FIVE-STAR REVIEW
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic reviews
‘Radically reframes our national story’ OBSERVER
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What listeners say about Normal Women
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Aletta E F Theron
- 20-12-23
Incredibly interesting
A wonderful challenge of the handed-down, male-dominated history. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Every woman should read this.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 11-12-23
knowledge
it kept me interested all the way through and made me think a very good book
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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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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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Jessica
- 25-05-24
Sweeping and well researched
A triumph from the brilliant Philippa Gregory. Such an interesting history and I loved that the author read it.
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- Bede
- 15-03-24
Required Reading
Highly recommend for anyone of any gender or sex, very engaging writing and passionate reading by the author.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- M R Mackenzie
- 01-01-24
The amazingly thorough research and details, some shocking.
Quite unbelievable facts about women. This book gives me strength and insight into my rights as a woman. Thank you Philippa Gregory.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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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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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Viv
- 26-05-24
i have learned so much
This has been very interesting and enlightening. Initially I found it a little hard going but the book, and narration, improves all way through and I think the conclusion should be listened to by all.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Liz Hughes
- 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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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- joan parsons
- 08-01-24
Some repetition in the recording but interesting nonetheless
I think there might have been some mistakes in the recording as there was a lot of repetition, some immediately the repeating the same phrases but also some segments that are repetitious.
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1 person found this helpful