What an absolutely amazing story!

I knew absolutely nothing about Etta Lemon starting this book, simply intrigued about who she was and how she was connected to birds. What a fabulous unknown narrative….. the weaving in of her links with the suffrage movement but from an anti suffrage perspective was very interesting alongside a back drop of society at the time and it’s attitudes towards women. Loved this book, such descriptive narrative I could literally visualise almost every scene. Read passionately by the author herself. Thoroughly enjoyable!

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Such a wonderful book!

This is so beautifully written and narrated. I felt at different times moved, fascinated, educated, and outraged in this account of Etta Lemon's life. I'm so glad I got to know her and I now feel as though I do. Thank you for taking the time and the care to write this for us Tessa Boase. I'm off to read your other book now.

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Fascinating Listen

I knew a lot about the fight for women’s suffrage already but nothing about the history of the RSPB or the prolific feather industry of the late Victorian era. The book gives a fascinating insight into other political struggles of the time and juxtaposes them against a backdrop of female emancipation. It encourages the reader to consider all sides of the various arguments and leaves us to make up our minds about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, both in relation to the fight for the vote and the fight to prohibit ‘murderous millenary’. Highly recommend this to anyone who thinks they knows about the suffragettes or the origins of the RSPB!

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Beautiful & brilliant

Beautifully written and read. An incredible story of welfare and rights. The parallels and overlaps between Etta Lemon’s campaign and the suffrage movement is particularly poignant.

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So good, I listened twice

Prior to hearing this biography, I was completely ignorant of Etta Lemon & her (many) accomplishments. That educational discrepancy has, thankfully, been corrected by listening to this amazing story - so intricately researched & completely without bias.
The ONLY audiobook i've listened to, in entirety, immediately after finishing!

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Surprising, gripping and unexpectedly moving

This is the story of the women who set up the RSPB, campaigning against the fashion for feathered hats - an unusual, entertaining and, at times, shocking journey through high Victorian and Edwardian society. This was a world where every women had a hat, and some had hundreds of hats. A world where birds were thought to make pretty trimmings for these hats, and were slaughtered by the thousand for the milinery trade. I'll never look at another picture of a suffragette rally again through the same eyes, now that I know so many of them are wearing 'murderous millinery'. It starts with the feather industry, the poor girls slaving away making plumed ornaments to go on the hats of more fortunate women. Then come the bird-loving women behind the RSPB - I love the name and the character Etta Lemon, why haven't we heard of her before? Moving to the suffrage movement, which was an overlapping women's campaign, sharing methods and many members with the RSPB. Finally, the perplexing contradictions of women fighting each other - over fashion, over the vote, over a woman's place in the world. This is a rich, surprising and gripping story, beautifully delivered. I now want to see the pictures, so will probably get the book.

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Brilliant

I’ve learned a lot
Never realised the murder of millions of innocent birds was allowed for fashion SHAMEFUL !

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The perfect audiobook

Wonderfully researched and written and beautifully narrated by the author - this audiobook is a real treat. It’s a fascinating look into the history and characters behind the RSPB and how they interlink with the women’s suffrage movement. I particularly enjoyed the narration by the author. One could argue that the author is the person who knows their work best and is therefore best placed to read the book but this only works if someone is a gifted narrator as well as a wonderful writer as Tessa Boase is. It must have been a fascinating experience to do the research on this book. There are so many interesting little details included that round out the characters. I can’t recommend this highly enough.

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Unsung hero’s

Well written and performed by Tessa Boase. We rarely hear about women’s history and thus book is an absolute treat.

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Mrs Pankhurst

So much I didn’t know before listening to this. It was excellent. Highly recommend to all

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3 people found this helpful