Chin Up, Girls!

by Georgia Powell (Editor), Katharine Ramsay (Editor)

From the self-styled 'Queen of Soho' who sued BA, claiming to have been bitten on the bottom by a flea, to the butcher's daughter from Oldham who performed topless as 'the world's strongest woman'before becoming becoming the mistress ofa peerwhom she met while living in a Pyrennean mountain hut, this is a celebration of the women who refused to fulfil society's expectations. Their company includes the woman who survived four months adrift in a dinghy in the Pacific and the woman who played professional polo disguised as a man for fifteen years, as well as the inimitable Dame Barbara Cartland and Fanny Cradock. And there are over one hundred more.This is the first time that the Daily Telegraph has dedicated a book to women's stories; very few of the women featured were 'celebrities', yet their stories represent a century of progress and change, capturing the spirit of those who came of age between Emancipation and the Equal Opportunities Act, whether high life or low life, pioneers or bluestockings.Taking its title from the inspiring lines of a matron whose nurses faced a WWII firing squad, this is a fascinating portrayal of unforgettable and extraordinary characters united by their refusal to accept society's constraints.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Feminism, Biography

Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

Reviews

[Sharen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoy the Daily Telegraph Obituary series, you will certainly appreciate this volume dedicated to women. These life stories are not mawkish or sentimental. There's lots of liveliness, eccentricity*, and dry British wit; the humorous asides that typify the Telegraph's obits add to the appreciation of these lives well-lived. From the Introduction, "Where men can be intrepid, resourceful, comic, depraved or slightly dotty, women often push the boundaries a bit further." (p.1)

*e.g. "Fanny Craddock, the irascible grande dame of the kitchen...At the age of one, the infant Fanny was given to her grandmother ('the Belle of Leicester') as 'a birthday present', and remained with her until she was 10."

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Women have always excelled throughout history, even though their stories usually go untold and they have always faced far greater challenges than their Y chromosomed counter parts, like not being allowed to go to school, vote, be elected government officials, publish books, own property, being sold as property, and so on. Even nowadays inequality plagues us all, and when it comes to story telling, most films keep failing the Bechdel test. "For a movie to pass The Bechdel Test, it must contain just one thing - a scene in which two or more named female characters have a conversation (that is, back and forth dialogue) about anything at all besides men. Read more at http://filmschoolrejects.com/features..." Seems simple enough, right? I dare you to google it and check out which films fail!
That is why this book is such a refreshing breath of fresh air. It tells the amazing stories of some amazing people, all of them women. They fought wars, cured diseases, published books and scientific papers, set trends, and generally blazed new paths for all women to follow. These people elevate the entire human race, and their stories deserve to be know and told time and time again. Their names should be instantly recognised, but they are not. I recommend this book to everyone who likes a good hero story, because these are real-life heroines!

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will make you cry and at times it may make you laugh. A first-class collection of obituaries of the most amazing women, it gives you a glimpse of the many, many unsung heroines who achieved so much with little or no recognition.
The content of the book is fascinating but the title (yes, it is a direct quote, but...) and the 'grouping' of the obituaries eg. 'Battleaxes' etc. is patronising and unworthy of these women. They fought against outrageous sexism and class bias and overcame incredible odds, often dying young and sometimes horribly.
WHY these wonderful women are not more widely celebrated and recognised is a disgrace and makes our current 'celeb-obsessed' culture look even more obscene.
And the saddest thing of all is that they are all gone and we shall never see their like again.
Bit of a rant... but this collection made a real impression on me.

[Graceann · Rating 4 out of 5]

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There were some fascinating ladies here, so many of whom I had never heard of before. I have a whole new list of names to investigate. This book is best read in small doses or the names will run together on you. Unfortunately, I had to get it back to the library or I would have lingered over it a bit longer. Oh well.

[sevdah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book! I wish the obituaries were longer than a few pages, but it was great nevertheless. Not a book you can just read from beginning to end, as I found out eventually, but a volume to keep on the bed-stand and open at random when you're in the middle of a creative crisis and just need instant inspiration.

[Sam Herbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short obituaries about unconventional, heroic women, some of whom history has forgotten... I really enjoyed some of the more eccentric stories but I was left wanting to know more about the women as the passages are so short. Well written, humourous, emotive and moving, a nice, nonfiction read.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book to read a bit at time between other books. Inspirational women's obituaries from London's Daily Telegraph, filled with the abbreviated, cleverly written, histories of female war heroes, sports enthusiasts, scientists, game changers and eccentrics,

[Holly Woodward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

A thinner book would have been more interesting. Didn't actually finish it.