Recently, I dropped into one of my favourite haunts in Uxbridge and asked a member of the staff if she had a copy of the new book by Philippa Gregory. After a quick dash to the non-fiction section, she retrieved Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History. She recommended it, something I always appreciate from staff members at Blue Heron Books. In fact, as I left, I offered the best compliment I could think of at the time.

“Lots of women making history at this establishment,” I said. And I meant it.

In Dr. Gregory’s nearly 700-page treatise, the author doesn’t focus on the obvious handful of heroines in British history – Elizabeth I, Agatha Christie, Florence Nightingale or Margaret Thatcher – but rather the legions of women who competed in jousts, designed ships, mills and houses, or enlisted in the armed services. (more…)