Ashley Bowers’s Reviews > Etta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved the Birds > Status Update

“Like Alice Battershall and her neighbours on Lever Street, these were young women who had never known quiet. They had never seen the stars, never picked a flower. They had never heard the cuckoo, and when it began to sing they looked about for a clock.”

“What stands out most of all is their humanity: arms slung around each others’ shoulders, smirking or staring uncertainly at the camera.”

The book takes a close look at the alliances women built throughout history and how these connections helped them reclaim their voices and agency. I like how the author keeps women at the centre of the narrative, with arguments that feel balanced and questions that genuinely invite reflection. And that’s only Part 1!

“There is another feather — or rather collection of feathers — kept in a box at the headquarters of Britain’s biggest conservation charity. They tell a different yet equally symbolic story.”

“Today, each feather represents a protected species.”

I’d like to see the ‘contraband’ box, pleasee.

“In a glass cabinet at the Museum of London, in the heart of the City, lies a single, purple ostrich feather. It is not a particularly large feather, just twelve inches long, but it is full and heavily luxurious, its tip plump and lolling, its fronds still faintly curled. The colour has faded over time to a subtle shade of blackberry fool, yet it still looks ready to be plucked up and pinned to a lavish hat.”

It’s interesting that older versions of this book are titled ‘Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather’ — I don’t know if they are the same book, but I think they might be… just with a cover for each woman? Wonder if this changes how the book is perceived. Just notes.