Monday 5 February 2018

Hearts and Minds by Jane Robinson


Hearts and Minds looks at the stories of the ordinary women of the suffrage campaign with more of an emphasis on the work of the suffragist movement. I loved it because it gave me a real insight into the suffragist campaign which I never knew much about and having read this book I was all the poorer for not knowing more about them. Their efforts and resilience was amazing and I was over awed learning about the efforts they went to to secure women the vote, tackling the issue in a calmer manner than their militant counterparts in the suffragettes. I particularly loved learning about the role of Elizabeth Garrett Andersen in the campaign having only come across her previously as the first women to qualify as a doctor in the UK when we look at Medicine through time

I also loved this book because of the stories of individuals involved with the campaign, both suffragette and suffragist such as the story of the suffragette who refused to wear her prison outfit as a protest for not being treated as a political prisoner and sat in her cell naked and when they authorities tried to put her in a straitjacket as a punishment she was so slim that she just wriggled out of it.

If you enjoyed studying the suffragettes in Year 7 or are interested in women's history this is definitely the book for you.

No comments: