'What a lot we have to thank Barbara Bodichon and her circle for. She was a charismatic but self-effacing woman so she would at the very least have been perplexed by the idea of being a role model. But I can't think of a better one for today.' - Literary Review

'Lively and well researched ... [Bodichon] was a vital cog in the wheel of social change for women. Her energy is contagious.‘ The Times

Jane Robinson is brilliant at putting the women back into history and her biography of Barbara Leigh Bodichon, a Victorian feminist we should all be grateful to, is as entertaining as it is necessary.’ - Daisy Goodwin

‘Jane Robinson’s admiration of [Barbara’s] achievements, and her incisive and immersive approach to writing her life story, ensures that her subject catches the sun.’ - Times Literary Supplement

'An overdue tribute to an unsung feminist pioneer . . . Robinson gives a buoyant, skilfully managed account that is undeniably moving.' - Financial Times


You have probably not heard of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon but you certainly should have done.

Name any 'modern' human rights movement, and she was a pioneer: feminism, equal opportunities, diversity, inclusion, mental health awareness, Black Lives Matter. While her name has been omitted from too many history books, it was Barbara that opened the doors for more famous names to walk through. And her influence owed as much to who she was as to what she did: people loved her for her robust sense of humour, cheerfulness and indiscriminate acts of kindness.

This is a celebration of the life of the founder of Britain's suffrage movement: campaigner for equal opportunity in the workplace, the law, at home and beyond. Co-founder of Girton, the first university college for women, a committed activist for human rights, fervently anti-slavery, she was also one of Victorian England's finest female painters.

Jane Robinson's brilliant new book shines a light on a remarkable woman who lived on her own terms and to whom we owe a huge debt.