Normal women: making history for 900 years

Did you know that women prior to the Norman Conquest were more likely to have equal pay than 19^th century women?  Or that there are more male appendages than women depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry?  Or that women were the true commanders behind the armies in War of the Roses? If these statements intrigue you, then you’ll love this book.

Normal Women is a fascinating journey through British social history from doomsday to the present day with a focus on women that has been carefully crafted by one of our most popular historical writers, Phillipa Gregory, and adapted for a teenage audience.

It’s a refreshing account of the highs and lows of ordinary, ‘normal’ women over the last millennium, rather than a collection of biographies of famous female figures in history which is particularly refreshing. The familiar names do feature but so do the names and accounts of women from all corners of society from landowners to ‘witches’ to sportswomen and activists.

It allows the reader to track not only how but why women’s position in society has changed through the centuries, and not necessarily always in a forward direction.

Its chronological format allows the reader to plot social, political, technological and religious changes in British society and how this has affected women’s daily lives and freedoms.

It does cover and feature some unpleasant aspects of history involving women, such as slavery, violence and sexual violence so may not be suitable for more sensitive readers. I will admit, it does at times feel disheartening and overwhelming to repeatedly be reading about the awful things that have happened to women over the centuries, but at the same time to raise awareness of how far women have come and what we’ve had to go through to get to the level of freedom we have now is a vital part of history that should be made available to young people through books like this.

This book was originally published as a longer, more in-depth adult title and has been adapted in this version for teenage readers to be a more accessible, lighter version. Those that enjoy this version may be likely to turn to the original version for a more intensive look at women’s history through time.