A Night Out with the Girls

“They’re the best outings, aren’t they, without the fellahs. They can’t get in your way and stop you having a laugh.”

Discos, tap dancing, morris dancing, belly dancing; cinema, theatre, hen nights, The Chippendales; holidays, health clubs, weekends away; betting, exercising, learning, partying ... A Night Out With the Girls is a raucous, lively and entertaining look at what women get up to when their men aren’t around. 

Women without men aren’t lonely, miserable or wasting time — they’re having great fun, supporting each other, but above all resolutely overthrowing social restrictions imposed on them as women.

Gilda O’Neill’s remarkable interviews with women from all backgrounds, combined with her sparkling and accessible social commentary, provide a thought-provoking and highly enjoyable oral history of popular culture in action.

A Night Out With the Girls is an affectionate and moving collection of individual stories which reveal the fierce and irreplaceable bonds of female friendship.

‘Every page is a delight’ – Daily Mail

‘Terrific. A delightful foray through nineteenth century murder and mayhem’ – Spectator

‘Packed with shocking and tragic tales’ – Big Issue

‘A world of hunger, squalor, disease and pain’ – Daily Telegraph

‘[Gives a] voice to memories of a changing East End’ – The Guardian

'A shocking book which, for once, should dispel the myth that life in the East End was one long knees-up' – Daily Express

'O'Neill chronicles the filth and poverty with leery aplomb, then sobers things up with sharp social commentary' – The Scotsman

Gilda O’Neill (1951-2010) took three university degrees and was awarded an honorary doctorate for her work on the East End. In 1990 O’Neill began writing full-time. She published thirteen novels and six works of non-fiction, including East End Tales. She also broadcasted, gave talks and wrote articles about east London history. She tragically died in 2010 from a sudden illness.