Suffragette City

by Kate Muir

Genres: Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1999

About the author

Kate Muir studied Politics at the University of Glasgow.

Reviews

[Mady · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a light read, but still includes some history on the suffragette movement in Scotland.
Albertine is an artist who is haunted by her great-great-grandmother, who was a suffragist. I especially liked the pregnant art series from Albertine. I'm sure I would have liked to see her exhibition! And it was interesting to get reminded how much other women have fought for the right to vote, that nowadays we take for granted!

[Karen Milne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous - what a great insight into how the vote was won

[Maire Naughton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book 20 years and just re-read - made me laugh then and now - about a New Yorker at a crossroads in her life and suddenly haunted by her Scottish great grandmother who was a suffragette and doesn’t hold back in passing judgement on her great grandchild’s life choices .

[Lisa S · Rating 4 out of 5]

that was such a fun read! really enjoyed it

[Penelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this out from a list of titles my sister was getting rid of when she was clearing out her house. It's an easy read and rather enjoyable. It's pretty funny at times too. It's about an artist living in Manhattan in late 1999, and alternate chapters are letters written by her great-great-grandmother who was a suffragette in Glasgow at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was good to read some of that history in a non-academic way, and realising how much those women went through in fighting for women's rights. There was a particularly nasty description of being force fed in prison during a hunger strike. The secondary characters are fairly forgettable, and sometimes reminded me a bit of Sex and the City except poorer and more bohemian. There's also a love story and a ghost story woven through this. Overall, this is warm and light-hearted wee story, which makes some interesting comparisons between women's lives (and feminism) of different eras.

[Norah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caught at a Bookcrossing meetup this year, but only got to reading it recently, and what a lovely story! I really enjoyed the alternate chapters going between New York 2000 and Glasgow at the time of the Suffragette Movement. Albertine, an artist in New York is being haunted by Agnes, a relative from her family tree, married to a minister in Scotland who is very strict, but she loves him and has a daughter before he dies from over-work. A very interesting peep into the suffragette movement, plus an interesting romantic connection in New York.

[Chartreuse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and funny.