Just as the title suggests, this non-fiction was split into eleven distinct but overlapping sections that each focused on a different area in the fight for equality between the sexes. Changing societal opinion is never an easy task and these individuals, both historically and in our contemporary society, who chose to go against this accepted grain are often branded as bossy, petulant, witchy, bitchy, frigid, and so much worse. In short, they are difficult women.

Certainly an interesting book, a book you will re read and refer to too . Thank you to both the publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this book

Well-behaved women don’t make history: difficult women do.

Feminism’s success is down to complicated, contradictory, imperfect women, who fought each other as well as fighting for equal rights. Helen Lewis argues that too many of these pioneers have been whitewashed or forgotten in our modern search for feel-good, inspirational heroines. It’s time to reclaim the history of feminism as a history of difficult women.

This was a really interesting read, Helen Lewis has created a well researched and referenced book looking at the subject, definitely a book to add to anyones feminist reading list- this was a great read.

An interesting history of feminism in the UK

"Feminists must always resist any attempt to give the state the power to decide if they've been naughty or nice. Women deserve to vote, no matter what they do with it. They deserve to have sex without fearing pregnancy, even if society doesn't approve of their partners. They deserve refuges, even if they keep going back to him. They deserve to have maternity leave, even if it makes life harder for their employer. They deserve to be treated equally, even when their lives and bodies are different to those of men."

Helen Lewis gives a historical overview over 11 different topics as they relate to feminism in the UK: divorce, the vote, sex, play, work, safety, love, education, time, abortion and "the right to be difficult".

I very much enjoyed reading this book. I enjoyed the different topics and interviews, lots of facts, and further reading suggestions. I like Lewis writing style and her own somewhat sarcastic comments. I especially enjoyed the chapter on time. As I'm not from the UK, there were many facts that I hadn't heard of before. The reason I'm giving only four stars is that the author seems to have some trouble grasping trans identity and what comes with that. Overall a highly interesting book that I can recommend for all women but most especially all men.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

A really interesting, well written and engaging book. This can't be considered a definite guide to feminism and I doubt it that's its intention but the research is fascinating and it's an excellent addition to my women's history collection. One to keep and re read

A book about the largely unnoticed women of feminism. I found it incredibly interesting to learn of their stories and activism, but there was something missing from this book. It was very white and cis centric; a small note on transgender people and feminism, but rather fleeting to have any substance.

Part of the book felt a little rushed together, especially the epilogue. I feel Lewis’ descriptions of a ‘difficult woman’ rather missed the point that feminists don’t fit into a category, even if the author tries to go against the grain of stereotypes.

An interesting read, but not my favourite feminist book.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought that it was very well written and the author had chosen a such an interesting selection of women, it must have been very difficult to narrow it down to these. I liked the fact that you could dip in and out of this book and I think it would also be an excellent choice for a book group as there would be plenty to talk about.

A really interesting read which talks a lot about intersectional feminism referring to women globally across centuries rather than simply discussing the women who helped gain the vote for women. There were some points that Lewis made that I personally disagreed with, but overall this was insightful. I'd never heard of many of these women, Jayaben Desai for one, so I really liked hearing their stories. This is highly informative for those of you who want a book detailing intersectional feminist stories.

A great look at feminism that highlights women we don't always think about. Thoughtful and insightful. Would recommend!

Difficult Women is an insightful and thoroughly entertaining book charting the history of feminism through the stories of (so-called) difficult women. It does not shy from character flaws: rather than paint these women as unblemished heroines it properly explains their behaviour and motivations, even when their actions may not today be seen as morally right or politically correct.

I appreciated Lewis' personal insights and bias: as a British feminist, she focused primarily on British history and events, and was unafraid to detail aspects of her own personal life which shaped the narratives within.

Recommended for all women, particularly those with an interest in the history of feminism.

Difficult Women looks at the history of feminism (albeit through a UK-centric lens), highlighting the complicated and often contradictory nature of the women's movement. The chapters look at divorce, love, the vote, education, sex, safety, work, play, abortion, time and the right to be difficult. Lewis is careful to show these women as flawed heroines, and the “difficult” of the title is an accolade, not a condemnation.

An easy and entertaining read, which provides a good introduction to the history of feminism and gives personal insight to the women who fought for equality and drove seismic societal changes. I don’t personally agree with all of Lewis’s viewpoints, but appreciate this as a fascinating read, nonetheless.

A big yes to this book. The author certainly knows her stuff, and that makes it a joy to read. Highly recommended.

This is a book I’ve been dipping in and out of for a few weeks and it’s a fantastic read. It’s the sort of book I think all women should read and it added so much to my knowledge of the ongoing fight for women’s rights. A must in feminist reading.

Feminism is complicated and so are the women who fight for their rights. It is rare to read a book on this subject that does not hail the movement's heroines as perfect women, that speaks about the complicated issues that dominate the movement or even dare touch the subjects of the fighting, cancelling and namecalling of feminists amongst each other. It's a subject fraught with division. I think that Helen Lewis did a great job of giving glimpses of just how complicated and complex feminism is and how far there is to go. Yes, at times, she struggles a bit to make the chapters more coherent, but sleeping on it I guess this was inevitable. I did disagree with her on certain things, but this is definitely a book that invites the opinion of others to the table. It was the first book on this subject in a long time that told me things I had not heard about before and where I felt that one can be a complex woman and still have a place at the feminist table. As a very clever friend of mine once said: "You will get more things wrong in life than right, but the things you get right will make all the difference."

If you are just to read one book this year, this should be it. Helen Lewis introduces us to some of the women that have made huge contributions to feminism, and who despite all that remain unknown to many. ‘Difficult women’ is an insightful read that will cover the two waves of feminism and topics such as divorce, vote, education, time and others, in an engaging and entertaining manner.

Lewis’ book brought some of the women omitted from history, out of the shadows. Figures like Erin Pizzey, Caroline Norton, Marie Stopes, Selma James and Annie Kenney are some of the names mentioned. They have fought for changes in legislation and change in attitudes, yet often get omitted from history textbooks due to having been defined by their personalities, life choices and political beliefs. Their victories and the progress they have helped to create seem to be obscured by the fact that they are women who don’t comfortably fall into a neat category of being ‘perfect’ but instead to the dismay of others, into one of being ‘difficult.’
And then Helen puts into the words: ‘A history of feminism isn’t the same as the history of feminists.’
Even if we don’t agree on those feminists attitudes and beliefs, where they have changed the history needs to be credited and their efforts remembered and reading this book is a perfect way to start.

‘Difficult Women’ was informative and something that I needed to read. It showed me the various little freedoms that I enjoy and had taken for granted, where once they were seen as unobtainable.The book served as a reminder to not become complacent and fight for the what we see as still not being fair in today’s society. I highly recommend it.

Helen Lewis was for a long time one of the best reasons for reading the New Statesman before she moved on, so it's really no surprise that this book is so good. It manages to be informative and wide-ranging in its overview of feminism and a number of influential and "difficult" women without being too worthy or lacking a sense of humour. It has excellent overviews of issues such as divorce, sex and the vote. You could argue that some chapters feel too long and others overlook important areas (for example the chapter on education which is too focused on higher education), but these are minor issues in what is really an excellent book.

Funny and full of inspirational tales from the lesser known feminist activists throughout history. Definitely worth a read!

I think Helen Lewis does a fantastic job of representing forgotten and overlooked women from history and presenting them in a frank and honest way, flaws and all. I learnt A LOT from this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes to read about history and/or feminism.

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<p>This book is an exploration of 'difficult women' throughout the history of (mainly) the UK. These women were 'difficult' in various ways - some displayed behaviours that may deem them to be 'difficult' in modern times, others simply spoke their mind and stood up for themselves against injustices but were determined to be difficult due to their points in history.</p>
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I find it incredibly difficult to review non-fiction books at times. I find it even more difficult when it is a book like this, as it is full of a range of stories and opinions about feminism throughout history.
Instead of doing an in-depth review, I thought I would just share some of my personal highlights of the book. To be clear - this book would suit anyone with a slight interest in feminism. There are a range of subjects throughout the book, each indicated by the chapter titles. Some of the chapter titles were unexpected and some were definitely more interesting than others (to me).
I really enjoyed reading the 'Divorce' chapter at the beginning of the book. I've rarely considered the feminist implications of divorce and how these have developed throughout history, so this was a really interesting viewpoint for me to read. The chapter details stories such as how a man once sued his wife for not having sex with him, as, technically, he 'owned' her vagina. Though outrageous, I found the quippy stories like these extremely intriguing (in an OMG - what? Way!)
I also really enjoyed the chapter about sex. The chapter detailed sex as a feminine subject - instead of focusing on the pleasure of the man it focused on the woman. Some of this section did remind me of Nimco Ali's book 'What We're Told Not to Talk About (But We're Going to Anyway)'.