As soon as I read the synopsis for this book, I knew I wanted to read it. I also wondered why I hadn’t heard of Annie Besant. Why had history written her out?

The prelude truly set the tone of the time, reminding us how little autonomy women possessed. For my own personal taste, I felt the prelude was a little protracted, and felt that a more condensed version would have sufficed.

Annie Besant’s name has been airbrushed out of UK history, even within the realms of the suffrage movement. The author gives so much context to Annie’s life. In fact, too much. There are so many facts, so much background noise, that Annie’s story becomes lost.

The author says he couldn’t find the book he was looking for, so he wrote it. But this book still leaves me wanting to know more of Annie. Annie as an individual, not Annie as an extension of Charles, or Annie seen through Queen Victoria’s diaries.

Annie sounds to be a magnificent woman, a true trailblazer, someone I would have loved to have known. I was so excited to start this book, I truly wanted to love it. I’m afraid to say that I found it hard work to read this book, it wasn’t the engaging read I had hoped it would be. I found it to be rather dry.

I found this a really absorbing read, about a remarkable woman who is not as well-known as she should be. It’s a fascinating account of Annie Besant and her “partner-in-crime” Charles Bradlaugh – although the focus is mainly on Annie, as is appropriate. The book is meticulously researched, and although doesn’t shy away from serious social history, is written in an accessible and lively manner. I particularly appreciated the way Annie is placed in her social milieu and describes what is happening in the world around her and amongst the people – including Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens who touch her life. This successfully puts her actions and work in context and highlights just what an amazing woman she was. An entertaining, enjoyable and informative read.

This book was a wonderful surprise: fascinating, absorbing and very readable. I knew a little about Annie Besant from social history lessons at school, but this managed to put flesh on the bones of my limited knowledge and humanise the broad outline of her achievements in this country. It has even inspired greater research into her later life, which is not covered in the book.

It uses the framework of the court case about the 'dirty, filthy book' of the arresting title and draws in her involvement in the Match Girls' strike amongst other causes she espoused. It weaves Annie's personal family trials into the narrative and sets them - less successfully, perhaps - against banal, superficial diary entries of Queen Victoria, in a rather clumsy attempt to contrast the two women's attitudes and problems. However, this doesn't lessen the effect of the great work and sacrifices made by Annie.

Some excellent insights into the inequalities of the period and the justice system, though with an occasional over-labouring of the minutiae of court details, but generally an excellent and informative read, that kept me hooked to the end.

A woman's trial, accused of giving out birth control advice in Victorian times. A pioneer of women's rights and free speech.

I was so excited to recieve this book from Netgalley. I had heard of Annie Besant and was fascinated to find out more about a woman who was a pioneer for feminism and the right to knowledge about birth control. Annie's story was by far the most fascinating part of this book and was very inspiring. Yet other pars of the book were very dense and so much information which wasn't needed. But overall I'm glad I read this and now know so much more about this fascinating woman who seemed to live so many different lives

This significant and groundbreaking book delves into a previously overlooked yet crucial aspect of history: the trial of Annie Besant for daring to publish a book on female contraception, a subject deemed taboo in Victorian England. Meticulously researched and eloquently written, it brings forth the remarkable characters central to this case, offering a captivating and enlightening read.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

A very interesting and well-researched look into the life of Annie Besant. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about how she introduced her feminist ideas to the Victorians, and then stood by her beliefs, even in the face of legal action.

There were some chapters which took me a while to work through, due to the amount of information contained in the book, however, I not only enjoyed learning about Annie and Charles, but also about other side characters - Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin, etc.

This was really interesting but I had to be in the right mind space to read it - it was quite heavy going and therefore took me a long old time to get through significant chunks of it. Generally, very informative and enjoyed learning more from the feminist point of view! Two remarkable ladies making changes side by side.

This account of the trial of Annie Besant for obscenity after she republished a pamphlet on contraception, at a price that would allow working-class people to access it, is well done, lively and carefully researched, using primary sources that have languished in archives. It sets Besant beautifully into the Victorian context as well as the context of other reformers and feminists who, mainly, came after her, and reclaims her story.

This book interested me enormously, I don't often read non-fiction but I'm really glad I picked this up.

'A Dirty, Filthy Book' is a description of a pamphlet published by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh back in the mid 19th century, a pamphlet about birth control.

It's incomprehensible to us now in modern developed society to understand how holding back knowledge about the female reproductive system and how people's bodies work, could at all jeopardise morals or not benefit wellbeing. This is the time where females were subservient and without rights, and even Queen Victoria's own opinions (snippets from her journals are included) are very clearly on the side of rigid-thinking society.

Annie Besant was clearly a brave and feisty woman, putting her opinions before her own welfare, even losing custody of her children during the proceedings. As with many women in history, she's not well-known publically, but hopefully this book rights a little of that wrong.

I was very interested in learning about Annie. I had not heard of her previously and feel that there are still many causes that need supporting today to make similar differences in history.

However, I felt this book bounced between several events in one sentence making it near impossible to understand everyone's part. There was too much of the surrounding stories and not enough concentration on Annie.

I found this book a struggle, which is a shame as I believe it is a very interesting story, just written in a way which is inaccessible to mainstream readers.

Fabulous start, some really intriguing parts and I am so glad to now know of Annie, however I have to admit there were parts that were a slog to read, but I suppose not every moment of her life could be fascinating

The life of a champion of the poor from Victorian times
I hadn't heard of Annie Besant before I received this book, but thought it would be an interesting and informative read, and indeed it is.
It's a biography of a fascinating and courageous woman who campaigned,usually successfully against the terrible situations that wives and children endured in Victorian Britain. They were effectively chattels, just properties of their husbands, with no rights at all, Wives had even to hand over any income.to their spouses. The women were also overburdened with virtually perpetual pregnancies that ruined their heath and wellbeing.
Her first major campaign was to get contraception accepted, which succeeded though it happened gradually.
Other campaigned followed and throughout her life thereafter she was a major thorn in the side of the establishment, both in Britain and later in India where she was an advocate for Independence.
The research that has gone into this book is extensive, so much so that the acknowlegements, bibliography and index take up able 15% of the pages. The sources are comprehensive including the private diaries and letters of Queen Victoria and her namesake daughter, notable figures of the time including Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde and also a good deal from newspaper archives, particularly The Times.
The one drawback for me is that the writing style is very reminiscent of that of the Victorian era which I found sometimes made me lose track of where whole paragraphs were going. I accept though that this may have been a literary device that the author has used to give context to the book.

I was keen to read a Meyer biography .. I have before too .. he's thorough and readable; and this is too .. in some cways what disturbed me however is his attitude to Besant .. her theosophy was renown and yet he shuffles off her last years. He has less empathy for some of her life choices (like her choice of partners). Also my own prejudice kicks in seeing a biography of an important, influential woman being set out by a male biographer of certain blinkered approach. It's capably researched but that era had certain different fixed ideas than we do now and Meyer thinks otherwise. Hmm

This book was fascinating, well researched, and tells a story of a very important early feminist figure in Britain who most people (myself included) have never heard of. However, and perhaps this was just the advance copy, the book needs a lot more editing. There are some repetitions and commentary that take away from the impact of the account itself. It was interesting to see what Queen Victoria thought about the topics at hand, and to catch a glimpse into her own struggles with her many pregnancies and the health consequences she suffered as a result, but there was far too much about her day to day which didn't really seem relevant to Annie Besant's inspiring story. Thanks to the author for shedding light on this chapter in British history.

I had never heard of Annie Besant until I read this fabulous book. A real life tale of the supposed crime of distributing a pamphlet dealing with birth control. Women and children were dying at an alarming rate. Women wore out by constant pregnancy and child birth and children dying due to malnutrition. All because of ignorance and their lack of legal status which want that they were the legal “property” of their husbands. The ruling classes were horrified that their wives and mistresses would get hold of their publication and that it would led to promiscuity etc. The poor would similarly be corrupted and the natural order would be overturned. This is a history book that reads as a novel. The book draws on extensive research by the authors. It doesn’t use deal with the trial but gives the reader the insight into Annie’s life from childhood, through a disasterous marriage to the Reverend Besant, their separation and Annie's formation as an activist. The book is extremely well reaearched and written in an engaging style. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC but most of all to the authors. This is a book that needs to find its way into the hands of readers who have an interest in the history of the rights of women.

A 5 Star book that reveals a 5 Star lady, Annie Besant, who has been largely overlooked for more than a Century. Her contributions to the current quality of life of women has regrettably been kept from the public gaze.

When Annie Besant was at her most active, a Dirty, Filthy Book was most certainly needed. Victorian women, even more than today, needed to know "how babies are made" and "how to prevent them being made" and society conspired to keep them all in the dark. A Dirty, Filthy Book was a concerted effort to produce an easily accessible and inexpensive booklet of information on birth control that everyone could read and learn from. Male dominated society did its best to prevent this by labelling such things as obscene and such data best confined to medical texts; in truth those were not much better informed.

I am totally unable to do this book justice with my review and so I shall be recommending and am recommending this book to everyone. It truly is jaw-dropping, in a good way, because it so clearly sets out the many ways that Annie Besant changed and effected change in her lifetime and into ours.

Michael Meyer’s A Dirty, Filthy Book is an excellent exposition of the life of Annie Besant (1847-1933). Annie was married to an abusive older husband, Frank Besant, the vicar of Sibsey. Although Annie had been religious when young, she lost her faith. Her husband gave her an ultimatum: to either attend communion in his church (because he thought that, otherwise, his living might be at risk and he’d lose his job) or to leave. To his astonishment, she chose the latter. The court awarded custody of their son to Frank and custody of Mabel, their daughter, to Annie.

Annie worked closely with Charles Bradlaugh and they were both excellent speakers. The young George Bernard Shaw knew Annie and praised her oratory to the end of his life. They published pamphlets and a weekly newspaper, the National Reformer, all in favour of free-thinking. That is, they encouraged the working classes to understand issues, to consider possible solutions and to argue and debate. This was seen as quasi-revolution by the upper-classes, who were aghast at challenges to the status quo. Besant and Bradlaugh published a book, The Fruits of Philosophy, which explained how pregnancy happens and thus explains options for controlling the size of families. That is, women could take steps to avoid constant pregnancies and thus alleviate the poverty caused when raising many children. The couple were prosecuted for selling an obscene book and Annie used the trial as a platform for making her views known and seeking publicity for the book. Besant and Bradlaugh were found guilty (sort of) by a rigged jury and Frank obtained a court order to take Mabel away from Annie.

Annie Besant found socialist ideas appealing but Bradlaugh abhorred Marxism as a foreign perversion and the two drifted apart. Annie helped the female match-workers of London’s East End to form a union – the first one whose members were all female. She strongly supported their strike and the employers capitulated.

The book is never dry. I was aware of Annie’s work with unions, but had little idea of her espousal of means to check pregnancy. The size of Victorian families diminished noticeably after the book was published – although it is impossible to prove this was due to the widespread dissemination of its ideas, it is probable that the book was the cause. Many women had cause to be grateful to Annie Besant for telling them what their mothers had been silent about – and many poor people were better-off after Annie’s fights for workers’ rights. This is a well-written book about a Very Important Woman – and I encourage everyone to read it.

#DirtyFilthyBook #NetGalley

An interesting book on a subject that is just as relevant today as it was in Annie Besant's day. No less covered then as it would be today and no less opposed in either time.

While the subject is well covered this is a very academic book, heavy on sources, quotes and side points. I would have liked more of the co defendants and less of the Queen, the jury, the judge, etc. It has interesting side notes and sets the tone of the day, but I did feel some of the tangents took away from the story and the main characters.

And then after the trial I'd have rather the focus follow Annie and her life. I felt like she became a side character in a book filled with men.

Whatever else I feel about this book this is a story that deserves to be told and everyone should read. Annie Besant's story and life mission deserves to be known.

Grab this book for a bedside table read and devour a chapter a night.

This book about the pioneering woman Annie Besant should have been riveting. Unfortunately I didn’t find it so, it was often not enough about Annie, but her partner, and others, such as Dickens. Why? It digressed too much.
The chapters which were about Annie, and the prologue/ introduction contained such large information dump passages, that it became stodgy and indigestible for me.
It was undoubtedly forensically researched, but that does not make it easily readable.
A 2.5 rounded up for me.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.