This is an excellent book and would be an appropriate gift for every teenager. But one word of warning – the last chapter contains both the f-word and the c-word. Maybe it’s mealy-mouthed of me to use euphemisms when Newman quotes the words in full, but I believe some people would be offended by the words and thus I prefer to avoid giving that offence.

Like some other reviewers, I was confused by the length of the introduction. My Kindle tells me it is 5% of the book. When 17% of the book is consumed by acknowledgements, bibliography and the index, that seems like a disproportionately long introduction. Once you realise that it’s not really an introduction in the traditional sense, but more a full chapter covering history prior to the “real” start of the book in Victorian times.

The book is a series of examples, showing women who won’t conform to traditional norms; who won’t rock the boat; and who don’t see why they can’t behave as men would have done in similar circumstances. I confess that I hadn’t heard of many of these women. (However, there are undoubtedly many men who also did outstanding things and whose names are similarly unknown to me. I am woefully ignorant when it comes to social history – my fault, no-one else’s.)  These exemplars should be better known; and all young people should be encouraged to realise that ability, not tradition, should be the only barrier to achieving something.

Sadly, my review copy of the Kindle book showed every digit from 0-9 as a question mark, thus I could see no dates, no numbers, no page numbers, etc.. I assume this has been fixed since no-one else mentions it as a major problem.

#BloodyBrilliantWomen #NetGalley

I thought this book was really interesting but I didn't like how it wasn't in sections but jumped around. This meant it was quite hard to dip in and out of.

I think this is well worth a read and we need more books like this celebrating women that we should know about buy don't.

I'm afraid I was unable to read this book properly or able to enjoy it fully as the text was littered with hieroglyphics instead of numerals. I tried on both my Kindle Fire and on my Paperwhite, but it was the same on both devices. I feel the dates are very relevant and, without them, the book isn't as easy to follow. It's a shame as it looks like a great read.

I won't give a poor star value if I haven't read a book, though.

An absolutely bloody brilliant book! Cathy Newman, doyenne of Channel 4 News, has written a readable, engrossing history of notable women in Britain over the past century or so. Some of these women are well known, but many are much more obscure, even though they have made considerable contributions to politics, science and other fields. The book works through by chronology and is easy to become engrossed in. Newman's research is exemplary - she has dug out fascinating nuggets of information that are well-referenced and continually surprising. An excellent read for anyone interested in women's history. Hearty recommendation.

Truly inspiring book. I learnt about so many women in history I hadn't heard of before.  Especially loved the first female police officer Edith Smith's story. Made me feel very empowered to be a woman and read about all that we have gone through over the years.

Incredible accounts of amazing women throughout our history. So many women I had no idea existed, let alone had such an impact. 

The book is well written and easy to read, not swimming in prose and complication. I've found myself bringing these women up in conversation when anything vaguely connects to their mark in history because more people should know about them! 

I can already think of 2/3 of my friends I'll buy copies of this for Christmas gifts. Wonderful.

Over the past one hundred and fifty years there have been women at the forefront of all major events in history and promoting social change in the UK.  Unfortunately history has tended to have a male-centric view of events and therefore the contribution of women has not really been emphasised.  In this polemic Cathy Newman gives the reader a taste of some of these groundbreakers and influencers.  It's a fast-paced book and leaves the reader wanting to know a lot more about some!

Dear history, meet herstory. 

As a black migrant female, I am always conscious about the complexities of present day and prior models of feminism, and the likelihood to brush past interaectionality that is at play in The multidimensional plight for equality. This book is a good effort in giving as many sects of womanhood a seat at the table; a voice. 

I thought I knew my feminist history and this tore that to pieces and retold it to me. The omission of dates in the publisher’s draft was a bit of a hurdle, but the devil in the detail; fact-checking and contextual nuances added in to flesh out some of the gritty facts of life as a woman in yesteryears makes for a great non-fiction read.

This book uncovers the ‘pioneers, revolutionaries and geniuses your history teacher forgot to mention’. Read about women such as engineer Beatrice Shilling, whose work played a role in helping RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain, and developmental biologist Anne McLaren, whose work paved the way for IVF.

Brilliant book, well researched and well built up. I believe it is for anyone and it could be a great present for anyone. Historically correct and eye opening.

UK readers may be familiar with Cathy Newman from her role as journalist and presenter on Channel Four’s nightly news programme. She has a very direct but completely amicable style that often disarms the people that she interviews. This easygoing style translates into her written prose and what could be a dull and dry subject is a lively journey through the ages.

My only real gripe with this book celebrating great women in history is the cover. A terribly misleading choice of artwork that has more akin with a Jacqueline Wilson tweenies novel than a celebration of female pioneers. That’s not to say that it shouldn’t be given to older teenagers to read, as a sixteen year old I would have devoured a book like this and been inspired to step away from the norm.

Reading this book over the weekend of the centennial commemorations of the ending of the first world war has been particularly poignant. Reading about the struggles of early pioneers in education, nursing, science and literature has been especially interesting in the context of the work that these women undertook in the absence of the men during the war years.

One of the biggest surprises for me was learning more about Scottish family planning pioneer Marie Stopes. Famous for her campaigning for women’s rights and a woman’s right to birth control she was also a devout advocate of eugenics and the purification of the race. So much so that when her only son married a woman who wore glasses she cut him out of her will. Horrified that he would even consider having children with someone who was genetically faulty.

Bloody Brilliant Women should be an addition to every A Level History reading list so that everyone can appreciate the strength and depth that women have brought – and continue to bring – to society, politics, literature, science, medicine. Indeed every aspect of life. Brava Cathy Newman!

Provided by Net Galley and William Collins in exchange for an honest review.

UK Publication Date: Oct 4 2018. 336 pages.

I unfortunately had to give up on reading this due to the terrible formatting on the version I received on kindle. All of the dates (and any digits at all) were replaced by strange symbols. This wouldn't have been such an issue if it weren't a history book, and therefore the dates and years are crucially important! I would love to try again with an edited version as I was really looking forward to reading it!

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about all of these women I had not known existed. If these are the women Cathy Newman personally picked out to write about, how many more have there been that are not widely known about? I'll be passing this book on to my friends and family.

Energetic and take, Newman's broad history of women emerged from her discovery at school reading history books that apart from Mrs Thatcher and queen Elizabeth there were next to mine British women mentioned. She feels strong women, equal to men, are the answer  and lauds such women coming to power in the way men can do. Journalistic and also full of lots of stories, affecting and funny, this might while away many hours happily..

This is a smart well written book that really highlights and draws attention to the massive impact women have had in history with regard to inventions, politics and society that has been swept aside. 

It might get lost in the embarrassment of riches of profiles of amazing women books, which is a shame, because this is good. Very good.

Why was I not taught about these women at school? 

The pages are full of women who are a real inspiration. 

I shall be buying copies for my family and friends (of both gender) and singing it praises from the rooftop.

An enjoyable read and full of details for the budding feminists out there. A lot of details about women I knew about such as Dorothy Lawrence and the Pankhursts but well worth reading.

In depth and thought provoking to give a different view on history as we a taught it. Well written although the author seems to go of on unnecessary rangers at times. Good conclusion including more modern information

When I saw this book was up for a review I jumped at the chance to read it.
History books are littered with heroic men who have shaped the world we live in today.
But what about the women?
The history books seem to have forgotten about the women. Of course we know about Emmeline Pankhurst, Marie Stopes and a few others, but what do we know of engineer and motorbike racer Beatrice Shilling, whose ingenious device for the Spitfires' Rolls-Royce Merlin fixed an often-fatal flaw, allowing the RAF's planes to beat the Germans in the Battle of Britain?
Or Dorothy Lawrence, the journalist who achieved her ambition to become a WW1 correspondent by pretending to be a man?
Or development biologist Anne McClaren, whose work in genetics paved the way for in vitro fertilisation?
And then we have the women who paved the way for council housing in Britain, municipal swimming pools and humane laws relating to property ownership, child custody and divorce wouldn't exist in quite the same way without these heroic women included in this book.
These trailblazing women, and many more, deserve the same recognition that their male counterparts were afforded. From the 1918 Representation of the People Act - which allowed some women the right to vote - through to the ousting of Margaret Thatcher from Downing Street, and beyond.
The book is a brilliant read, a humbling read, a read that will enrage you on behalf of these women for the way in which they were very often belittled. Bloody Brilliant Women was written using meticulous research with information gleaned from memoirs, diaries, letters, novels and other secondary sources. The author uses the stories of some extraordinary lives to tell the tale of 20th and 21st century Britain. It's a history for both women and men. A history for our times.
I hadn't heard of half of these women and that made me both sad and mad at the same time. Why were these women overlooked? Very often what they achieved, created, defended, fought for and much, much more was more incredible than some of the men who have been included in the history books.
The book is very thought provoking. It's very humbling. It's a bloody brilliant read and I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately, I find myself unable to finish this book. What is already a convoluted book, going off on tangents and being quite hard to follow, is made even worse by the bad formatting of this ebook proof. There is not one number as it should be, instead they are all symbols, making it hard to read and difficult to digest. The content has no context without dates or figures to compare, and so it is with regret I cannot read on.