Warriors and Witches and Damn Rebel Bitches: Scottish Women to Live Your Life By

by Mairi Kidd

Throughout history, Scottish women have broken the rules with attitude. WILLIAMINA FLEMING reached for the stars and took Harvard by storm. MARY SOMERVILLE challenged prejudice to claim the title 'scientist' for women. EFFIE GRAY knew the power of language to name and shame bullies and belittlers. AGNES RANDOLPH stood up to a siege and owned every minute of it like a boss. Inspirational and fierce in every sense, these sisters will fire you up to face your own modern-day dilemmas with serious style. 'I loved these powerful, moving and inspiring stories about women and sisterhood. I know so many activists and change-makers who will connect with this brilliant book and I can't wait to share it with the women in my life.' DAISY BUCHANAN

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Scotland, Feminism, Witches, Historical, Biography Memoir

215 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Mairi Kidd is Head of Literature, Languages and Publishing at Creative Scotland. She was formerly Managing Director of Barrington Stoke, a prize-winning publisher. A fluent Gaelic speaker, she has an MA in Celtic Studies from Edinburgh University. As CEO of Stòrlann, the National Gaelic Education Resource Agency, she worked with Scottish Government, Bòrd na Gàidhlig and local authorities. She is a contributor to BBC Radio nan Gàidheal's books coverage and writes for broadcast, including Gaelic comedy series FUNC.

Reviews

[Lisa Hough-Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing book - I devoured it in a couple of days, which says a lot about its readability given it is technically a historical collection.
Feeling inspired by and proud of the women of Scottish history, and very grateful to Mairi Kidd for telling their stories.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and gorgeously written exploration of Scotland's badass bitches through history.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute book that highlights some wonderful (and a few less than wonderful) women from Scotland's history. I loved the first section (Warriors) but feel like it lost momentum by the time I got to the "Damn rebel bitches." As another reviewer mentioned, the "live your life by" sections could be a little cringey at times. It was still a fun read and I learned some great new stories about some of the women who impacted Scotland.

[Steph Hay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this, it was great to read more about Scottish women - some I had heard of but more that I hadn't. Great jumping off point for me to look for more details on them all. The little advice sections added an interesting element, the one about period poverty particularly resonated and again sent me off to look at ways to help. Highly recommended.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational book filled with far too many women that I had never heard of before or knew little about.

Get this book and read it. It's a nice, quick read but you get a lot from it.

[Kimberly Pendleton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fell out with it after it included a trans man's story. Wasn't impressed with it before that glaring error either. Bit patronising.

[Fiona Rennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dìreach special! Thug a leabhar seo spionnadh dhomh gu dearbh a Mhàiri! Wonderful collection of Scottish women through history, with a snapshot of their story. loved it!

[Sonia Jackett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked alot of this book; the history and the amazing lives of these women. What a fantastic book in that sense. Also beautifully laid out and illustrated.

The 'advice' at the end of every woman's story however was a bit cringe. I don't really understand who this book is aimed at. The way the advice is written and the jokey lines has something of a 'your aunt trying to be down with the kids' vibe about it. So I assume it's aimed at young girls? Teenagers? But then it makes reference to some things I wouldn't really want a book making reference about to a small pre-teen i.e 'what is tequila mummy and why does it make people sick?' Some of the advice must surely be aimed at younger women as sometimes it comes across as extremely patronising and very oversimplified.

anyway stopped reading those parts and started enjoying it all a lot more! For this reason it's a 3.5, otherwise it would most certainly be a full 4 stars.

[Emeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, a really good book to learn more about women's and scottish history. However I often cringed reading the "live your life by..." sections.

[Dora Maguire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Long overdue! Thank you for giving a voice to the women of Scotland at long last! Witty, insightful and full of bedtime stories for girls and women alike.

[Holly Westendorf · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I saw the title of this book I knew I had to read it. Unfortunately, the awesome title was the best thing about this book. It’s a very light and vague introduction to historical women figures of Scotland. The warriors section of the book was disappointing because it had very little to do with women who actually fought in any battles but had more to do with women’s achievements in sciences and other areas. Another thing that bothered me was how random the selection of women were in the different sections. Some really had nothing to do with that section and seemed to have no historical significance at all. I feel like the author could have done a better job setting up the historical background surrounding these women and focused more on describing their impacts on history than giving you inspirational fluff. I did find a few women who did interest me into doing further research. I do understand my view of this book is somewhat flawed because I am from the U.S. and have no background in Scottish history.

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to dip into and learn more about the women of Scotland!

Blurb:
Throughout history, Scottish women have broken the rules with attitude.
Williamina Fleming reached for the stars and took Harvard by storm.
Mary Somerville challenged prejudice to claim the title of "scientist" for women.
Effie Gray knew the power of language to name and shame bullies and belittlers.
Agnes Randolph stood up to a siege and owned every minute of it like a boss.
Inspirational and fierce in every sense, these sisters will fire you up to face your own modern-day dilemmas with serious style.

A gorgeous book, this provides mini-biographies of women throughout Scottish history - great for dipping into now and then, and broadening your knowledge of feminists / rebels / ground breakers in the nation.

[Joe Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book on the history of Scottish women. Just wish there’s a little bit more information on them. I do not care to hear about the author’s political or feminist views. Why are you even mentioning US presidents or people running for the US presidency? Or why are you talking about reparations in Scotland? What does Beyoncé have to do with the Scottish women in history? What does the me too movement have to do with Scottish women of history?

[Esme Kelso · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good book about Scottish women and their accomplishments. It’s a great gift too.

I have a question for other readers - One of the women, Kidd mentions was in cahoots with Tolkien, wrote a similarly folklore-based book series that featured more female characters than Lord of the Rings. If anyone knows which women this is in the book pls comment below so I don’t have to go through it all again to find her 😅

[Gail DiVico · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful and interesting book about women through the ages from centuries ago through more recent times. The stories center around how women were treated as lower class citizens and the methods they used to be themselves usually to their disadvantage. At the end of each chapter, there are a few paragraphs about how women today can conquer some of the same feelings as their centuries-ago counterparts. I recommend this book to women of all ages.

[Sye Kasim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had so much potential, but it just doesn't have a clear tone or approach for an audience. Is this for young girls? Adults? Teens? The style is just off, and the wee boxes at the end of each section for "live your life by" come across as quite patronising. I really wanted to like this book, but I just found it off-putting. It's a shame, as it could have been so much better.

[Pam Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of short vignettes of the lives of women in Scottish history, paired with a short paragraph on what we might learn from each of them. I loved it. So tired of reading about what men did and nothing about what women did!

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a surprise! I loved this book. I knew most of the scottish women described, but learned a few more things! I thought it was aimed at teens/young adult but it made a fun read. Very surprised to see it in our little community library, and have ordered it for myself. Plus another of her books!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and inspiring vignettes about Scots women - makes me want to learn more about them all!

[Carolyn]

Very interesting read. would highly recommend. If nothing else than to use as a reference book.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still don't understand why certain women were listed under certain headings... I think this book didn't quite know what audience it was trying to reach either.

[Rhona Dickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating insights into the lives of so many Scottish women and the turbulent times in which they lived. Love the format of this book.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved the section on ways to honor those women by living like them, modern ways to keep their memory alive.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to many inspiring women from Scottish history. The tales were written in an accessible, easy to read way that I think can appeal to both history enthusiasts and casual readers alike, and the layout and illustrations are beautiful.

4 stars for me as I found the “live your life by” sections a bit cringy at times, and I think the book would have been better off letting the inspiration and message you can take from some of these women’s tales speak for themselves.

[Joséphine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful and fascinating book! I fell in love with it at first sight but reading it made me love it even more. Discovering so many unknown figures of Scottish history was an amazing experience.