Defiant Women Made Fiction

We have two absolutely stellar events coming up, to transport you to olden times and bring hidden histories to light. In both these brand new novels, the overshadowed histories of women are explored and woven into spectacular fiction:

On Thursday, January 19th we're overjoyed to welcome Victoria MacKenzie with her novel 'For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain' - based on the extraordinary lives of two real medieval women: Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe. Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love is the first book in English by a woman; The Book of Margery Kempe is the first autobiography in English by a man or a woman.

Victoria will be in conversation with Rachelle Atalla. More info and tickets HERE!

On February 2nd it's time for witch trials in Norway in 1662 with Anya Bergman's novel 'The Witches of Vardø', a propulsive, epic, feminist book with a group of women – mothers and daughters – accused of witchcraft and brutalised by the men in power at its heart.

Anya will be in conversation with Alice Tarbuck. Info and tickets HERE.

In case you can't wait till then, or if you're hungry for more feminist historical fiction, here's a reding list with some of our favourite novels based on the lives of real women. From Leonora Carrington and Madame Tussaud to the lesser known stories of 1960s reproductive justice and explorations of West African history, these books enlighten what's been erased and expand the blanks into endlessly enthralling stories.