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In 1869, when five women enrolled at university for the first time in British history, the average female brain was thouhgt to be 150 grams lighter than a man’s. Doctors warned that if women studied too hard their wombs would wither and die. When the Cambridege Senate held a vote on whether women students should be allowed official membership of the university. there was a full-scale riot. By the 1930s, women were emerging from universities as anything from aviation engineers to professional academics.
Bluestockings tells an inspiring story – of defiance and determination, of colourful eccentricity and at times heartbreaking loneliness.
Jane Robinson read English at Oxford, and her books have established her as an engaging social historian with an appreciative eye for eccentricity.
“A gem of a book. Social history of the best kind” The Sunday Times
