Normal Women: Making history for 900 years

by Philippa Gregory

Overview

The bestselling, critically acclaimed new women’s history book from Philippa Gregory for 2025 – adapted for teen and YA readers!

Today, when we think of women of the past, we often think of the 1800s and 1900s – crinolines and stage coaches, bonnets and balls – a time when women were told they were naturally inferior to men, and must stay at home while men went out to work and have fun.

HUGE MISTAKE! There is so much more to women’s history than bonnets and big dresses! Ordinary women have been doing extraordinary things FOR EVER – it just didn’t make the history books (written by men!).

Join multi-award-winning author Philippa Gregory as she tells the story of ordinary English women, making history for 900 years. Meet farmers, highwaywomen, pirates, ‘female husbands’, slaves, soldiers, criminals, writers, inventors, rioters and more – protesting, working, playing, taking risks, getting rich (and getting even!). Their story is one of ingenuity, diversity, rebellion, survival – and sisterhood.

Adapted by Philippa Gregory from her best-selling, critically acclaimed Normal Women. This edition for younger readers has simplified, age-tailored content, delivered in bitesize sections, and is illustrated throughout by award-winning printmaker Alexis Snell.

PRAISE FOR NORMAL WOMEN (teen edition):

‘Impressively researched, by turns inspiring and chilling … brilliantly told’ – Cressida Cowell

‘This book is redemption for unsung female heroes. Prepare to feel aghast, proud and inspired’ – Geri Halliwell

‘Uplifting and empowering’ – Edwina Dunn, The Female Lead

PRAISE FOR NORMAL WOMEN (main edition):

A NEW STATESMEN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

‘A lasting work of social history’ THE TIMES

‘A genuinely new history of our nation’ DAN JONES

‘This celebration of women is a triumph of popular history’ SPECTATOR

'Philippa Gregory uses all her bestseller skills to weave a narrative with pace' ANTONIA FRASER

‘You’ll lose count of the number of things you learn about women and their skewed place in history … the book reframes the past … an essential read’ INDEPENDENT, FIVE-STAR REVIEW

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780008725082
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/27/2025
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishers
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	24 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	12 - 16 Years

About the Author

Philippa Gregory is an internationally renowned author of historical novels and middle-grade fiction for children. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature from the University of Edinburgh. Works that have been adapted for television include A Respectable Trade, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool. The Other Boleyn Girl is now a major film, starring Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana. Philippa Gregory lives in the North of England with her family.

Alexis Snell is the author-illustrator of The Bear in the Stars, a picture book for young readers, and the illustrator of several other books, including two Dr Who story collections. Her beautiful designs can be found on packaging, stationery, wallpaper, textiles and furniture.

Philippa Gregory is an internationally renowned author of historical novels. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature from the University of Edinburgh. Works that have been adapted for television include A Respectable Trade, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool. The Other Boleyn Girl is now a major film, starring Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana. Philippa Gregory lives in the North of England with her family.

Hometown:

Yorkshire, England

Date of Birth:

January 9, 1954

Place of Birth:

Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa

Education:

B.A. in history, Sussex University, 1982; Ph.D., 18th-century popular fiction, Edinburgh, 1984

Website:

http://www.PhilippaGregory.com

Editorial Reviews

Early praise for Normal Women: Making History For 900 Years:

'We all know the quote 'he who owns the narrative controls the story' So much of our history has been led and told by men. Gregory rewrites 900 years of history and reveals a path women can be proud of, and build from. What could be more uplifting and empowering?’ – Edwina Dunn, founder of The Female Lead

'This is redemption for the unsung female heroes lost through time. Prepared to feel aghast, proud and inspired when reading this book. Philippa Gregory is more than an author, she is warrior for the ‘normal’, the ordinary, a disruptor who refuses to be silenced, with her pen in hand she has 'slayed' once again.’ – Geri Halliwell

‘Impressively researched, by turns inspiring and chilling, the history of the uphill struggle for women to achieve anything remotely resembling equality over 900 years is brilliantly told for young readers in this book. And older readers. This 58 year old learnt for the first time that a housewife was not entitled to her share of the family money in a divorce until as late as 1996, or that rape within marriage did not become a crime until 1992, and that right here and now in the UK a woman is killed every three days by a man. And what this clear account of the last 900 years of history for 50 percent of the population tells me is that nothing should be taken for granted, and that much more still needs to be fought for.’ – Cressida Cowell

From the Publisher