Stephanie Butland's novel The Woman in the Photograph is an eye-opening exploration of feminism and its history. We meet Veronica Moon, a young photographer whose talent is ignored until she discovers the fight for equal pay for women workers and is moved to move to London to begin a revolutionary career and relationship with her best friend Leonie.

We see the events of 1968 unfold in an exciting and poignant way as the story continues fifty years later. When Leonie has passed away and Veronica is crippled by a degenerative disease, the iconic photograph she took of her friend's death serves as the centerpiece of a new exhibition.

This thought-provoking and powerful novel brings the often untold stories of the women behind the feminist movement to the forefront. With its sharp dialogue and vibrant imagery, The Woman in the Photograph shows us how female power can break boundaries and give voice to the voiceless. Stephanie Butland's tale of female friendship and resistance is an incredible achievement and one that should not be missed.

DNF. I couldn't connect with this book at all and found it really hard to get into. I had high hopes for this, which is a shame.

This was a really thought-provoking book which has changed my outlook on life. I know this sounds dramatic but it's true.

This novel follows the story of Vee Moon, a photographer and Leonie Barratt both militant feminists in the 1970s/1980s. It flips between the modern world where Erica is putting on an exhibition of Vee's photographs and the past during various feminist marches and events including the Dagenham Ford factory and Miss World..

I have always thought of myself as a feminist - wanting equal rights and opportunities - but when presented with the extreme views of Leonie and Vee I found myself becoming annoyed. However, much of what is presented in the voices of the protagonists is true and this has leaked into my daily life where sexist attitudes are suddenly highlighted more.

The fact that this book annoyed me, but I kept reading is a testament to the fantastic job the author has done of researching the topic, character development and plot. She intersperses true facts about the feminine movement in the 1970s and 1980s with the lives of Vee and Leonie to such a successful extent I wondered if they were in fact real people.

I thoroughly recommend this book as it will be one that will stay with me for some time.

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The book opens in 2018, with an exhibition about to start of the work of photo journalist Veronica (Vee) Moon. It appears that she is unwell and has been away from the photography scene for some time. There is a photograph of her old friend Leonie that seemingly ended her career! At this stage in the book we have no idea as to what this photo shows.

As the book moves along from the 1960’s to 2018, we learn of Vee’s life and career from her time with her wonderfully supportive father in her home town of Colchester, to the events that get her noticed and onto becoming a successful and much sort after photo journalist. She also tells us the story of how she meets Leonie, who after meeting at the Dagenham Ford Factory at the time of the women’s’ strike for equal pay, introduces her to the feminist movement that goes on to shape and change Vee’s career.

The book is split into sections: Subject, Light, Focus, Distance, Movement, Exposure and Developing. Each section starts with a description of a particular photograph of Vee’s , due to be part of the exhibition, explained in technical terms and when and where it was taken. It then lists real life events that took place that year, with the following chapters telling us the story from Vee’s perspective, of how the photo came about. I really liked this way of breaking the story up into parts as not only did it make the journey of Vee’s life and career very readable, but I also liked the way it allowed us to get a real sense of each photograph and how it would have sat in the real life context.

There has been a wave of fictional books published recently with a feminist element at the core of it’s story-line, but there are a number of things that I felt made this one slightly different from the others. It’s partly set in the past but a recent enough past for me to have heard of the events it mentions. The combination of said events and the authors fictional characters have been expertly woven together within the feminist movement of that time. I also thought it was a nicely balanced look at active feminism. On one side you have Leonie, a very loud, dedicated member of the movement and on the other Vee, learning as she goes, committing to it in a much quieter fashion.

Leonie is a very strong, if not particularly likeable character, who likes to be in charge of the other members of the group always shouting angrily about the injustices women face, whereas Vee quietly gets on with her new found job ‘fighting’ for the cause in a much different way. It seemed to me that although Leonie liked to shout and protest, if things didn’t happen in the way she wished them to, she would disappear off into a sulk. There is also another story threaded through the book that involves Leonie’s niece who is the curator for Vee’s exhibition which adds enormously to the book and which I very much enjoyed.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. It was engaging, informative and a very interesting look at a much written about topic.
Thankyou to the publisher and to NetGalley for my copy of this book

This book blew me away. It is intelligent, thought-provoking, emotional (to the point I sobbed in front of my in-laws) and got under my skin.

It is a retrospective look on the second wave of feminism through the eyes of Veronica Moon, a photographer as she becomes involved in an exhibition of her work over the previous fifty years. Set in 2018, the interaction between her and the exhibition’s organiser, Erica drew me in and highlights the differences in attitude between generations and how feminism has evolved from the 1970’s marches to the #MeToo movement.

Veronica, Vee did not know anything about feminism until she met bolshie, educated and opinionated Leonie in 1968. Through the relationship and Leonie acting as a mentor, Vee evolves and learns about her place in the world and the fight for equality ahead. Vee’s learning curve became my own because it made me realise how little I knew beyond the suffragettes and Dagenham. It was eye opening to read about the restrictions on women at the time, many I did not know about such as needing a guarantor to take a mortgage out on your own. There are many things we take for granted that the older generation had to fight for. Likewise in the present day, Vee becomes Erica’s mentor who until then saw feminism much like did.

The novel as the title suggests revolves around photographs; Stephanie Butland’s talent for describing them brought the images alive adding to the depth of the story. Throughout the story, there is a mystery of a particular image of Leonie which made me keep turning the pages.

Feminism plays a large role in this novel but at it’s heart is the journey of women, and an exploration of the relationships between them, their families, spouses and wider world.

Leonie, Vee and Erica will remain in my heart. Their voices will continue speak to me urging me to follow their lead, keep fighting to make a difference, be proud of who I am and what I achieve, support fellow sisters and always question the world around me. It left me feeling empowered and I am not the same person I was when I read the opening paragraph. This is definitely one for my forever shelf.

What a brilliantly written book.
I love that the chapters are of varying lengths.
However I felt that the book was a little too long as the last few chapters dragged.
A very good book but if you don’t like sexual references or swearing maybe give it a miss

I loved this book and found it hard to put down. I've read all of this author's books and they are definitely a satisfying read.

There have been many books with a focus on first wave feminism, and it was really refreshing to find a book that instead explored its background during a period I lived through, from the 1960s onward. Like most women of my age, I can remember the strike at Dagenham, the protest at the Miss World ceremony, the women’s peace camps at Greenham Common – but I was perhaps too young to fully understand the issues. It was a wonderful experience to be more than a distant observer: this book allowed me to witness that period of change first hand, and also through the key images captured through the lens of the author’s fictional photographer, Veronica Moon.

The book opens with a visit to an exhibition – the 2018 retrospective of Veronica’s work – and an introduction to the controversial photograph that ended her career. An extract follows, from her unpublished book, then a description – the legend that accompanies a photograph in the exhibition – and a series of historical references for 1968, the year of the book’s opening. And then we meet Veronica herself – a junior photographer on the Colchester Echo, living with her dad and destined to become a wife and mother, who decides to visit the Dagenham Ford factory in her own time to photograph the picket line. There, she meets Leonie – and it’s a meeting that changes her life.

That structure continues throughout – along with Leonie’s published “Letters from a Feminist” – and I’ll admit I wasn’t entirely sure about it at first. But it soon ceases to be “difficult”, instead providing a very original structure that enables the reader to “see” each photograph and frame it in its context, and it works exceptionally well.

The characters are wonderful – I particularly loved the way Veronica herself grew and developed, and the complex and moving friendship between her and Leonie. Leonie herself is more difficult to like: she’s everything that perhaps repelled – and certainly frightened – women less committed to the cause at that time, but her character is never anything but entirely “real”, true to her age and time, never a stereotype.

As well as moving forward through Veronica’s extraordinary life and experiences in the world she becomes part of while capturing its key moments, there’s a present day story – we see Veronica in later life, as the exhibition of her work approaches. The thread slowly resolves some of the issues that have blighted her later life, and reveals the full story behind that single photograph that had such a devastating impact. The exhibition is being organised by Leonie’s niece Erica – another strong character, with interesting glimpses of her present day life that raise important questions around the current state of female parity and the caregiving roles.

In her reading group questions at the end of the book, the author asks whether the key photographs are brought to life with her words – the answer is an emphatic “yes”, to the extent that I began to question whether they were real. I really thought I could remember some of them – but although the “moments” undoubtedly happened, it’s the reader’s imagination that creates the images. And there are other “moments” throughout the book that you hold in your memory with the vividness of photographs – the buying of drinks in a public bar, the male endorsement needed for a mortgage application (yes, I’m old enough to remember both…), the power of throwing a lipstick into the gutter.

This book packs a very powerful emotional punch – and while its context is perhaps its core, I was equally enthralled by the smaller scale personal story, the overwhelming strength of the female friendship while realistically portraying the women’s differences, the slow uncovering of long hidden secrets.

I thought this book was quite superb – brave and different, an unflinching look at a struggle that still continues and that it’s all too easy to overlook and take for granted, coupled with an immensely engaging personal story. It’s also beautifully told, and a totally compelling read – I recommend it most highly.

(Copied to Amazon UK, but link not yet available)

This is a beautifully written book. Wonderful yet heart wrenching. I was hooked from the beginning, a real page turner that I couldn't put down. Vee is a talented photographer and I am inspired to get the camera out again . A really good read and very informative and I learned so much from it. Brilliant!

The year is 1968. Veronica (Vee) Moon is a junior photographer for a local newspaper, but she is frustrated by the type of jobs considered suitable for a woman, in this male dominated environment. There are only so many church fairs and Mothers' Union meetings you can photograph before you go mad. Vee yearns to be part of a bigger story.

Vee does not know a lot about feminism, but she knows she wants more than to be the little wife of her fiance, Barry: tied to domestic servitude and motherhood, with a sweet martini and lemonade on a Saturday.

Vee decides to take a trip to see the on-going protest of the Ford Dagenham machinists, who are striking for equal pay, and to take some photographs while she is there. This is where she meets the fierce Leonie.

Leonie takes Vee under her wing and undertakes to be her mentor in the feminist cause. Vee's life starts to change from this day onwards. Leonie offers her the chance of a free and exciting life - one she has never even thought possible - at the heart of the rising tide of the fight for women's equality.

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Fifty years later, Vee lives the life of a recluse. Leonie has gone and the circumstances surrounding her death brought an end to Vee's ground-breaking career as a famous photographer.

One of Vee's final photographs - her most controversial one - of her friend Leonie, is now the focus of a new feminist exhibition being curated by Leonie's niece, Erica. Vee has been persuaded out of her home to help Erica with the exhibition, and buried memories of the past are resurfacing. What really happened on the day Leonie died? Is it time to let go of the pain of the past and step back into the light?

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What a wonderful book! It has been an absolute pleasure to read.
There is an fabulous "light bulb" moment in this book too, which I thoroughly loved!

The story alternates between two different timelines - significant moments in the past for Vee and Leonie; and moments from the present day for Vee and Erica, as preparations for the exhibition progress.

Through the years, Leonie becomes increasing bitter that the direction of feminism has not gone the way she would have liked. Her ambition to become a successful published author has been thwarted at every turn, by her projects being just behind those published by the famous guiding lights of the feminist cause - although her "Dear John" column has been a success, even this has a sell by date in the end.

Meanwhile, Vee's career has gone from strength to strength and she has become a role model for women who want to forge ahead in the previously male-dominated areas. Leonie considers Vee to have "sold out", but Vee is actually benefiting from the changes initiated by women like Leonie and doing the best to make all the progress she can.

Leonie is a pretty tough character and she is not easy to like, especially as she gets older and her experiences seem to weigh her down. However, it is important to remember that the uncompromising women like Leonie, at the coal-face of the feminist movement, are the very ones we owe thanks to for initiating the very changes we benefit from today. Leonie is exactly the kind of character we need her to be in this story - one who can be a suitable mentor to the naive Vee - and she is a perfect vehicle to explain what feminism was hoping to achieve from the beginning. By explaining things to Vee, she is also explaining to the reader.

Vee is the softer face of feminism and she has more in common with the majority of women who "just wanted more" - the right to have freedom over their own bodies, make their own decisions, and control their own finances, without reference to a man.

Erica is the face of modern feminism - she has a lot more freedom that the women of Vee and Leonie's generation, but she sees the progress as more of leading to a right to decide how to live your life as a woman. Erica, as some of Leonie's friends from the past, show that it is important to include men in the fight for equality, rather than seeing them all as the enemy.

Interestingly, Vee takes on the role of staunch feminist herself, when she first starts to work with Erica and is disappointed that their struggles from the past have not led to women today having the equality she and her sisters hoped they would. In effect, Vee becomes the mentor to Erica., as their relatonship develops.

I think some of the younger readers of this book may be surprised by how much women were still controlled by the patriarchy in the later half of the twentieth century - for example, needing the permission of a male member of their family to apply for a mortgage, or even open a bank account/hold a cheque book. It is shocking to think that domestic violence within marriage was not even a crime until 1976!

I was born in 1967: the year that The Pill became available to unmarried women (only available from 1961 to married women) and that The Abortion Act became law. This has always given them a personal significance to me, especially since they made such a difference to the lives of women at the time, because this has all been within my own lifetime. For the first time, all women could choose whether to become mothers and the spectre of the back-street abortion was finally being laid to rest (more on this later).

The events covered in this book are therefore, all within the span of my own life, and women have made significant progress in the fight for equality during this time, following on from the work of the second wave feminist pioneers - albeit perhaps, not as much as was hoped.
Of course, I am too young to recall the Dagenham women's fight for equality or the protests at the 1970 Miss World competition first-hand, but I do remember pretty much every other milestone in this book - it was very helpful that each part of the book listed other memorable events, such as books, movies etc too. This makes it much easier to place the events in time.

There are a lot of books exploring feminism and the fight for equality among characters in their twenties/thirties recently, and although I enjoy reading them, they are more relevant to my children than myself. This book really spoke to me a much deeper level, as it has so much more to say about women of all ages.

Reading this book has made me think about whether the women of my own generation have actually done enough. Yes, things have been much better for us than for our own mothers, but will our daughters continue reap the same benefits? Have we sat back on our laurels and not continued to fight with the passion necessary to improve things even more for our own daughters?

It seems clear by the need for campaigns such as the recent #Metoo movement that there is still a lot of work to be done, but worse than that, the current political climate is leading to backward change - take the recent alterations in the law on abortion that are happening in some of the states of the USA. It is more important now, than ever, that we stand up against this trend - a return to the horror of the back-street abortion cannot be allowed to happen.

This is a fabulous book and I applaud Stephanie Butland for being brave enough to write it. I have found it to be something of a wake-up call and stirring to the soul, and will be recommending it widely.

Continue the fight Sisters....and remember to bring the men along too!

The Woman in the Photograph brings to light the history of feminism from the 1960s onward in a book which I found completely compelling.

Veronica Moon - Vee - is a press photographer at a time when it was a very male dominated profession. Unlike her male colleagues though, she gets sent on assignments such as photographing local Church sales. This all changes when, on one of her days off, she decides to go to Dagenham where female workers are striking for equal pay. This is her first experience of women vociferously voicing their anger at sexism and inequality. She meets Leonie, the subject of what becomes her most famous photograph, perhaps infamous is a better word, and her life is never the same. This photograph is the focus of a mystery at the heart of the story - why did it ruin Vee's flourishing career and why did she hardly ever take another photograph?

I was young in the 70s but I can remember that feminism was almost a dirty word. It was often a really derogatory term. We're talking about a time when women often gave up work when they married, almost always did when they had children and couldn't even buy their own drink in some pubs! Men certainly couldn't be feminists - they seen as the enemy, the patriarchy. Vee was a bit conflicted about this initially as she had been brought up by her father who always encouraged and supported her.

The relationship between Leonie and Vee was fascinating. Leonie was strong, determined and outspoken. Vee was quieter but grew in confidence throughout the book both as a woman and as a photographer. She saw herself as already being part of a change to a certain extent, being a woman photographer in a sphere that had largely been a male domain.

In 2018, Leonie's niece Erica is putting on a retrospective exhibition of Vee's photography. Through her we see how times and attitudes have. It is true that early feminists started a time of great progress for women but perhaps not enough yet. For example, Erica's husband talks about babysitting his own child. And he's not alone in that attitude as I'm sure many women will recognise. Women are still considered primary caregivers for their children whether they work or not.

The main themes of this book are feminism, sexuality and equality, brought into sharp focus through the all seeing eye of the camera. Significant moments in the history of feminism are caught by Vee's camera but it's more than just the moment, a photo is the glimpse of a person, a life and there is always a story behind each photo.

I must mention that I thought the structure of the book was very effective. Each section begins with a part of Vee's unpublished book for women photographers, followed by an explanation of one of the photos in the exhibition. There is some information about what was happening that year and then what was happening for Vee and Leonie, bringing it right down to the personal detail. And it is this personal detail which I so enjoyed in the book, the intense friendship between the two women and the way the bonds between them grew as the fight for equality continued. It wasn't always an easy friendship, Leonie was often a volatile person. But the bonds between the two were string and influential throughout their lives.

The Woman in the Photograph is an outsanding five star read. It made me grateful to all the feminists who stood up for themselves and other women and helped make the world a better, more equal place for women today. To paraphrase the book slightly, it is a must-read for anyone who cares about the past and future of feminism.

A really interesting look at the women's movement over the last 40 years or so. Set in 2018 and told through flashbacks, we focus on a young female photographer and her introduction to feminism in the 70s, the friendships and relationships that develop. I love so many elements of this, mostly the lack of traditional romantic interest. The characters are richly described and it's a fantastic insight into the feminist mind.
A definite recommend.

A quite, forceful, overwhelming presence and practice of feminism in day to day life. Veronica Moon and Leonie Baratt, the lead characters in this story made sit up and listen to them, their views, their opinions and beliefs in an age where Feminism is looked upon cautiously.

A well penned, thought provoking story from the past for the present and the future.

The Woman in the Photograph is an interesting and imaginative book, with an important feminist message. Following the life of Veronica Moon, the story is told in split time periods, with one narrative focusing on Veronica's life as a young photographer and emerging feminist, the other set in the present where she is about to become the focus of a new photography exhibition.

The split time periods worked really well for me, offering a snapshot of how far feminism has come - and how far it still has to go. Although this is obviously a fictional story, there's a lot of truth within it; I felt that I came away with a greater understanding of what feminism was, is, and should be.

If I'm honest, I did enjoy the past chapters (which are told from 1968 onwards) a little bit more than the present ones, but I think this was more a personal preference thing than anything to do with how they are written. I loved Leonie and the other 'sisters' so much that I was always eager to be reading about them, hearing more about their cause.

Overall, this was a powerful, insightful, and ultimately moving book, and I'm very pleased to have read it.

The enduring friendship beween Vee, Veronica Moon and women's rights activist, Leonie is what makes this novel so readable, but for me I felt that some of the political men bashing was made rather too pointedly. Yes, it was how it was I concede that; I remember the 70s very well and also how much these issues were in the news at the time. The whole story was leading up to the final scene, the titular woman in the photograph. Dare i say I felt the middle of the story rather laboured and slightly padded. But this was and still is a very important issue, and it was interesting to read even through fictional characters how much good they did to further the cause. My thanks to Sephanie Butland, Bonnier Zaffre and Net Galley for my arc of THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH.

The friendship between Veronica and Leonie as it threads through the days of Women's Lib is the backbone of this book. It's a raw, very believable relationship and I think I would almost rather that story fully formed than the flashbacks that we see throughout. The mystery of what the final photograph was and why it was so problematic dragged on a bit too long for me and while I loved the women's issues parallels that marked the passage of time I did think in the second act the story struggled a bit with pacing.

I did find some moments very touching though and of course enjoyed reading about strong, able women. Even as fictional characters they had moments of real inspiration.