In Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History, bestselling historical novelist Philippa Gregory radically redefines the roles ordinary women played throughout British history.

Most histories have been written by men, about men, relegating women – with the exception of a few queens – to the shadows of time.

Now, Gregory reveals the importance of ordinary women, providing a more balanced and truer chronicle that expands and adds rich detail to the story of Great Britain.

Through the stories of the female soldiers of the civil war, the guild widows who founded the prosperity of the City of London, highwaywomen and pirates, miners, ship owners, international traders, the women who ran London theaters and commissioned plays from Shakespeare, and the ‘female husbands’ who married each other legally in church and lived as husband and wife, Gregory redefines ‘normal’ female behavior to include heroism, rebellion, crime, treason, money-making and sainthood.

As she makes clear, normal women make history.

In this video, Gregory explains how women have always been at the heart of protest.

Watch the video:

Categories International Non-fiction

Tags Book excerpts Book extracts Jonathan Ball Publishers Normal Women Philippa Gregory Videos