I am not a historian... I am just another history nerd who wanted to write the kind of book I wanted to read 


This is what the author tells us at the very beginning of this book and I am so glad she did write it because it's exactly the kind of history book I want to read too.

Eleanor Morton's style of writing makes history fun and accessible, with lots of comedy sprinkled throughout, yet it doesn't feel dumbed down either.
She brings each of her subjects back to life with her thorough research, witty and informative storytelling and compassionate handling of some of the more sensitive issues.

What is also refreshing about this book is instead of taking the same old women from history that have millions of biographies already written about them, Eleanor has decided to mainly focus on women that, perhaps, we don't already know too much about but deserve to have their story told and celebrated.

I also want to applaud the author for adding context to explain why these women faced obstacles in their own lifetime but also, seamlessly, highlighting why these stories are still relevant today and what we can learn from them to try and make the world a better place for tomorrow.


I was provided with ARCs of both the audiobook and the ebook, and w the author's voice and humour translates well in the written version, I will be recommending people to listen to the audiobook just to hear the hilarious Eleanor Morton deliver her style of comedy outloud)

I really enjoyed this exploration of stories from women - some well known, some who have been all but written out of history, narrated by the author. The introduction with the story of Eleanor's grandmother sets the scene for these radical women, and each are beautifully researched stories with detailed insight into their lives. I'd recommend this to anyone, you're sure to learn a lot and enjoy this! The story of the Japanese mountaineer was possibly my favourite, what an achievement.

From the tale of the Bryant match girls strike, which I found inspiring, to other women's stories, I found this to be a wonderful audiobook, and I would recommend it highly for the little known information in the book, at least, little known by me. I really enjoyed the audiobook and the narrator was good.

**Listened to audio book**

I found this book really interested, and I love that the author Eleanor Morton narrated the book herself. I really learnt a lot from this, and I found some of the info completely fascinating - especially the women that I thought I knew a lot about already.
The book did have some humour but I definitely would have preferred it if there was more humour, I think it would have been a little more engaging - especially as an audio book.

I enjoyed the listening experience, but it was just OK.

I wasn't 100% sure whether this was genuine or satire (the author's a comedian, it really was a 50/50 chance) and I am THRILLED to say it is the former. More importantly, it's a book about historical women you genuinely don't see on lists of 'amazing women in history'. Eleanor Morton has a wonderful writing style - and funny, it's very funny - whilst also putting in a huge amount of historical research. I liked the angle about the life lessons we can learn from these women as they generally focus on things we could ACTUALLY achieve as normal human beings rather than, like, go to the moon or sail around the globe. Highly recommend this audiobook as the author narrates it herself and it just adds another layer of goodness to an already great book.

Eleanor Morton brings us life lessons from historical women and you can learn a lot from these groundbreaking legends, and have a laugh along the way.

The written tone is just perfect, striking the right balance between humour, truth and solemnity as she regales us with tales of some truly epic historical woman (and maybe some slightly shady ones too). It was all delivered in a humour filled, informative knowledge bomb and I loved every single chapter.

We learn from a woman who has climbed Everest, the first to run a marathon, those who have navigated the world during oppression, segregation, violence, sickness and those who have overcome the odds against their male counterparts.

Each chapter, dedicated to an amazing woman and her story, they give an insight into what they faced and the challenges they had to overcome. I loved that there was a sprinkling of names I did know, but just as importantly, ones I didn’t! The snippets give you a launchpad in which to begin your own research in any stories that fired up your curiosity. I loved that! The picks were great. I also loved the ‘ten things’ addition in between the chapters.

The audiobook too, narrated by the author, was also done brilliantly and made my reading/ listening experience even better.

It was a really enjoyable read, both entertaining and really well written. I have lots of new subjects for further research and the want to get to know more. Book two please!