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Things a bright girl can do by Sally Nichols


Through rallies and marches, in polite drawing rooms and freezing prison cells and the poverty-stricken slums of the East End, three courageous young women join the fight for the vote.

Evelyn is seventeen, and though she is rich and clever, she may never be allowed to follow her older brother to university. Enraged that she is expected to marry her childhood sweetheart rather than be educated, she joins the Suffragettes, and vows to pay the ultimate price for women's freedom.

May is fifteen, and already sworn to the cause, though she and her fellow Suffragists refuse violence. When she meets Nell, a girl who's grown up in hardship, she sees a kindred spirit. Together and in love, the two girls start to dream of a world where all kinds of women have their place.

But the fight for freedom will challenge Evelyn, May and Nell more than they ever could believe. As war looms, just how much are they willing to sacrifice?


A really short review today for a book I adore just because I can't quite find the words to do it justice. My inner history geek is in love with this book.

It is hands down the best book I've read this year and probably the best book I'm going to read this year. 


There was so much I adored about it. Firstly I loved that it focused on suffragettes. The suffragettes are so utterly fascinating and I've not been able to find much that covers them and certainly not in YA. I was fascinated by the way in which the book looked at the social history of the class system within Edwardian society in how it touched on different experiences for different social groups within the movement. I also liked seeing the first hand account of the impact of World War One at home and how this changed the focus on the suffragette movement. For me the fascinating snippets of historical nerdery made it feel so authentic and kept my inner history teacher happy.


I loved it and want more suffragette YA novels  

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