Informative and seemed very well researched. For the most part very interesting, but there were periods I wants to just finish already.

I really enjoy the books in this series and this one was a pleasure to read - I enjoyed that the period covers from 1850-1950 covering some of my favourite periods in history through from the Victorian and Edwardian eras to the second World War.

I love social history and this series is a great way to find out more about how women from different areas have developed over time, from the clothes they wear, the jobs they do and to changes in relationships and in the home.

There were a lot of changes over the period and it is great to have the impact focused on a particular area to follow the changes over the 100-year period.

This book did have a few more descriptions how the changes would have affected women overall and not just limited down to the Isle of Wight so the range is a little broader than in some books.
The book was well researched and well written and I found it to be an easy read.

It is 4 stars from me for this one – highly recommended and it was a great insight into what women’s lives would have been like on the Isle of Wight during this period!

A fascinating historical book on women that is well written and researched. Women should read this book, I do wish there was more historical details about the women the title was written about.

Even though this book contained a lot of information, I still felt it was just scratching the surface and was in a sense "too general" in some areas.

An enjoyable read about the lives of women and how they’ve changed over the last 150 years and relevant for women everywhere, not just the Isle of Wight. I would have liked a little more on Isle of Wight women, as opposed to women in general; but I did enjoy the details of the Island women that were included. As a former Isle of Wight woman myself, it was great to read about the place I still call home!

Thank you to Pen & Sword History and Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book. I enjoyed this book about women's lives on the Isle of Wight. This nonfiction selection tells so many interesting facts about these women that lived from 1850 to 1950. It seemed they had a lot in common with women from other countries as well. A well-written history of women and how they lived.

A really interesting book looking at the way in which women's lives have changed from 1850 to 1950. Covering both world wars, the introduction of compulsory education for children, contraception, voting rights for women, antibiotics, vaccinations, the NHS, divorce, women's rights to own property and more this is a great study of social history in a limited island environment showing generations of women over this period. Recommended for those interested in or studying the social history of England during this period.

As most of my ancestors come from the Isle of Wight I was naturally interested to see what this short book added to my own research. And the brief answer to that is, "not a lot" although I think it would be a very useful starting point for someone beginning their research or who knows little about English social history in the century which ended in 1950.
I was disappointed that much of the text was taken up with descriptions which would have been valid for most of England at the time and that there was less specifically relevant to the Isle of Wight. All four of my grandparents worked for the Post Office around the end of Victoria's reign, indeed one of my grandmothers was the sub-postmistress of Osborne Post Office, a great-aunt was in the WRENs and later one of the first to join the WRAF during WW1 so I was surprised that women's clerical, public sector and military occupations were not covered in greater detail, even for the broader national picture. Neither the short-lived lace-making industry (which employed 50 or 60 girls) towards the end of C19 nor the straw hat cottage industry (important to many rural households on the Isle of Wight) in the first part of C20 was mentioned.
However, the series that this book belongs to does not pretend to target anyone who has in-depth knowledge. It is a helpful beginning for someone looking to add some local Isle of Wight context to the broader social and economic picture of England in those times.
With many thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for giving me a copy of this book to review.

While not finding many surprises here, I did enjoy the conversational tone of this history of women's lives on the Isle of Wight. I particularly liked that it covered the one hundred years from 1850 to 1950 since I was born in 1950. It was fun to imagine what life might have been like for my mother and serval generations before had they lived there. It also makes me want to travel there next time I'm in the UK. I would like to read the other books in the series at some point. Thank you to Netgalley and Pen and Sword Books for allowing me the privilege of reading an advance copy.