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Katherine Mansfield : a hidden life
Kimber, Gerri
Reaktion Books
, 2025
; English
; 304 Pages
This biography explores the life and work of Katherine Mansfield, one of literary modernism's most significant writers. On the fringes of Bloomsbury, and friends with D. H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, T. S. Eliot and many others, Mansfield was at the heart of literary London at its most experimental. By the time of her death in 1923, aged just 34, she had broken boundaries and created new ways of writing that led her literary sparring partner Virginia Woolf to later admit that Mansfield's 'was the only writing I was ever jealous of'. Based on compelling new research, Gerri Kimber challenges previous conceptions surrounding the author's life, uncovers friendships and relationships formerly barely acknowledged and offers innovative readings of Mansfield's most celebrated stories
Kimber, Gerri
Reaktion Books
, 2025
; English
; 304 Pages
This biography explores the life and work of Katherine Mansfield, one of literary modernism's most significant writers. On the fringes of Bloomsbury, and friends with D. H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, T. S. Eliot and many others, Mansfield was at the heart of literary London at its most experimental. By the time of her death in 1923, aged just 34, she had broken boundaries and created new ways of writing that led her literary sparring partner Virginia Woolf to later admit that Mansfield's 'was the only writing I was ever jealous of'. Based on compelling new research, Gerri Kimber challenges previous conceptions surrounding the author's life, uncovers friendships and relationships formerly barely acknowledged and offers innovative readings of Mansfield's most celebrated stories
eBook
Crossing the line : an Israeli-Palestinian love story
Guarnieri, Mya
Red Lightning Books
, 2025
; English
; 292 Pages
In Crossing the Line, journalist and writer Mya Guarnieri recounts the story of a real-life Romeo and Juliet: herself, a Jewish American immigrant to Israel lecturing at a Palestinian university, and Mohamed, a fellow journalist and the son of a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
This timely memoir chronicles how, despite the Israeli-built separation barrier that stood between them, Mya and Mohamed managed to meet, fall in love, and overcome the external and internal obstacles that threatened to keep them apart. With a reporter's eye for detail and a storyteller's knack for nuance, she shares the political, cultural, and family problems the star-crossed lovers faced throughout their courtship. Crossing the Line is not only a reflection on her own story, however; this compelling memoir also offers an intimate look at daily life in Palestinian areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank; it explores the complexity of loving one's "enemy"; and it serves as a tortured love letter to the land and the people who call the place home.
In a dark moment in the long history of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Crossing the Line is a spot of light that imagines a different future for the two peoples. It is also a universal story about the challenges of overcoming our innermost emotional barriers and making ourselves vulnerable to love.
Guarnieri, Mya
Red Lightning Books
, 2025
; English
; 292 Pages
In Crossing the Line, journalist and writer Mya Guarnieri recounts the story of a real-life Romeo and Juliet: herself, a Jewish American immigrant to Israel lecturing at a Palestinian university, and Mohamed, a fellow journalist and the son of a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
This timely memoir chronicles how, despite the Israeli-built separation barrier that stood between them, Mya and Mohamed managed to meet, fall in love, and overcome the external and internal obstacles that threatened to keep them apart. With a reporter's eye for detail and a storyteller's knack for nuance, she shares the political, cultural, and family problems the star-crossed lovers faced throughout their courtship. Crossing the Line is not only a reflection on her own story, however; this compelling memoir also offers an intimate look at daily life in Palestinian areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank; it explores the complexity of loving one's "enemy"; and it serves as a tortured love letter to the land and the people who call the place home.
In a dark moment in the long history of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Crossing the Line is a spot of light that imagines a different future for the two peoples. It is also a universal story about the challenges of overcoming our innermost emotional barriers and making ourselves vulnerable to love.
eBook
Feminism undaunted : 50 years as a Muslim feminist
Karim, Wazir Jahan
World Scientific
, 2025
; English
; 435 Pages
Wazir Jahan engages the reader in absorbing stories from her childhood to retirement against a backdrop of events in Malaysia - cultural, academic and political - which elucidates the complexities of being a Muslim feminist, in a divisive Asian society.
Her narrative demonstrates that each woman can successfully negotiate the boundaries between patriarchy, family and modernity if they believe that being a woman is synonymous with being a feminist - that institutions which obstruct women's path to freedom can be challenged through recognising the power of individualism.
Jahan believes that once a woman understands what can work well for her, within the limitations of her own achievements and resources, she could be able to rise above these intimidations of life and actively engage in pursuing her dreams.
For Jahan, femininity and feminism are complementary forms of activism which enabled her to gain acceptance and legitimacy for her work with disadvantaged and minority women.
Her frank and refreshing confessions of success and failures in her work on women and gender demonstrates confidence, individuality and charisma - a catharsis in the journey to discovering the power of womanhood.
Karim, Wazir Jahan
World Scientific
, 2025
; English
; 435 Pages
Wazir Jahan engages the reader in absorbing stories from her childhood to retirement against a backdrop of events in Malaysia - cultural, academic and political - which elucidates the complexities of being a Muslim feminist, in a divisive Asian society.
Her narrative demonstrates that each woman can successfully negotiate the boundaries between patriarchy, family and modernity if they believe that being a woman is synonymous with being a feminist - that institutions which obstruct women's path to freedom can be challenged through recognising the power of individualism.
Jahan believes that once a woman understands what can work well for her, within the limitations of her own achievements and resources, she could be able to rise above these intimidations of life and actively engage in pursuing her dreams.
For Jahan, femininity and feminism are complementary forms of activism which enabled her to gain acceptance and legitimacy for her work with disadvantaged and minority women.
Her frank and refreshing confessions of success and failures in her work on women and gender demonstrates confidence, individuality and charisma - a catharsis in the journey to discovering the power of womanhood.
eBook
Eleanor of Aquitaine : woman, queen and legend
Grant, Lindy
Reaktion Books
, 2025
; English
; 225 Pages
Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204), the legendary queen of France and later England, has captivated historians for centuries. Heiress to the duchy of Aquitaine, wife to King Henry II and mother to Richard the Lionheart and King John, her life was marked by power, influence and myth. This concise, accessible history sheds new light on Eleanor, cutting through the hearsay and slander with a close reading of primary sources. It highlights the family bonds that shaped her power and identity, tracing her roots to the Loire rather than the Occitan south. Lindy Grant demonstrates that Eleanor's story is one of resilience: like Churchill, she saved England during a national crisis, though her political judgement could be equally erratic
Grant, Lindy
Reaktion Books
, 2025
; English
; 225 Pages
Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204), the legendary queen of France and later England, has captivated historians for centuries. Heiress to the duchy of Aquitaine, wife to King Henry II and mother to Richard the Lionheart and King John, her life was marked by power, influence and myth. This concise, accessible history sheds new light on Eleanor, cutting through the hearsay and slander with a close reading of primary sources. It highlights the family bonds that shaped her power and identity, tracing her roots to the Loire rather than the Occitan south. Lindy Grant demonstrates that Eleanor's story is one of resilience: like Churchill, she saved England during a national crisis, though her political judgement could be equally erratic
eBook
Women who dared: from the infamous to the forgotten
Fletcher-Watson, Ben; Shaw, Jo
Edinburgh University Press
, 2025
; English
; 257 Pages
What does it mean to be a woman who dares to challenge the status quo?
Whether by wielding power in patriarchal societies or rallying for peace, fighting for change has always put women in danger, but also led to remarkable stories of resistance.
Gathering 46 essays from writers around the globe, this collection explores the twin themes of women and daring through the lives of monarchs, prophets, suffragists, soldiers, scientists, activists and artists.
From the infamous to the forgotten, these trailblazers have much to tell us about the dynamics, conflicts, identities and power relations with which women live today.
Fletcher-Watson, Ben; Shaw, Jo
Edinburgh University Press
, 2025
; English
; 257 Pages
What does it mean to be a woman who dares to challenge the status quo?
Whether by wielding power in patriarchal societies or rallying for peace, fighting for change has always put women in danger, but also led to remarkable stories of resistance.
Gathering 46 essays from writers around the globe, this collection explores the twin themes of women and daring through the lives of monarchs, prophets, suffragists, soldiers, scientists, activists and artists.
From the infamous to the forgotten, these trailblazers have much to tell us about the dynamics, conflicts, identities and power relations with which women live today.
eBook
The voice of the century: kirsten flagstad
Solbrekken, Ingeborg; Bruce, Anne
Indiana University Press
, 2025
; English
; 309 Pages
In 1935, the Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad made her United States debut in a live radio broadcast that went across the country and made her an overnight success.
Flagstad went on to enjoy an astounding career at the Metropolitan Opera, becoming one of the most well-known singers of the twentieth century. The Voice of the Century tells Flagstad's story–one of triumph and tragedy.
The shy and stubborn Norwegian singer rescued the New York Metropolitan from bankruptcy in the 1930s, revitalizing interest in Richard Wagner's operas in the United States.
She was also a sensation in Europe, performing at Covent Garden in London, at festivals in Zurich, and at La Scala in Milan.
In music history, she is considered one of the foremost Wagner interpreters ever.
Yet during and after the Second World War, a campaign to discredit her was launched by leading officials in the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, and she was unjustly accused of harboring Nazi sympathies, of singing to Hitler, and of profiting greatly from the war.
This smear campaign resulted in major demonstrations at her performances in the United States.
Her fortune was seized, and she had to live under police protection.
Finally translated into English, this biography looks into the darkest corners of Norwegian intelligence history, scandals that jeopardized both the police and the prosecution's credibility. As creepy and riveting as any thriller, The Voice of the Century is a thoroughly documented account of how a foreign ministry organized a years-long persecution of a world-renowned female artist.
Solbrekken, Ingeborg; Bruce, Anne
Indiana University Press
, 2025
; English
; 309 Pages
In 1935, the Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad made her United States debut in a live radio broadcast that went across the country and made her an overnight success.
Flagstad went on to enjoy an astounding career at the Metropolitan Opera, becoming one of the most well-known singers of the twentieth century. The Voice of the Century tells Flagstad's story–one of triumph and tragedy.
The shy and stubborn Norwegian singer rescued the New York Metropolitan from bankruptcy in the 1930s, revitalizing interest in Richard Wagner's operas in the United States.
She was also a sensation in Europe, performing at Covent Garden in London, at festivals in Zurich, and at La Scala in Milan.
In music history, she is considered one of the foremost Wagner interpreters ever.
Yet during and after the Second World War, a campaign to discredit her was launched by leading officials in the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, and she was unjustly accused of harboring Nazi sympathies, of singing to Hitler, and of profiting greatly from the war.
This smear campaign resulted in major demonstrations at her performances in the United States.
Her fortune was seized, and she had to live under police protection.
Finally translated into English, this biography looks into the darkest corners of Norwegian intelligence history, scandals that jeopardized both the police and the prosecution's credibility. As creepy and riveting as any thriller, The Voice of the Century is a thoroughly documented account of how a foreign ministry organized a years-long persecution of a world-renowned female artist.
eBook
Wildly different: how five women reclaimed nature in a man’s world
Lonsdale, Sarah
Manchester University Press
, 2025
; English
; 293 Pages
The globe-trotting tales of five women who fought for the right to enjoy the wild places of the earth. For millennia the ‘wild’ was a place heroic men went on epic quests. Women were prevented from joining them, either through physical control or powerful myths about what would happen if they ventured beyond the city wall or village boundary. So how did women claim their place in the remote and lovely parts of our planet? In Wildly different, historian Sarah Lonsdale traces the lives of five women who fought for the right to work in, enjoy and help to save the earth’s wild places. We’ll meet Mina Hubbard, who outraged the exploration community when she stepped into a canoe in northern Labrador. Evelyn Cheesman, who became the first female keeper of insects at London Zoo. Dorothy Pilley, who shocked polite society by donning men’s climbing breeches. Ethel Haythornthwaite, who helped make the Peak District Britain’s first National Park. And Wangari Maathai, who started a movement to plant millions of trees across sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on interviews with Sir David Attenborough, Wangari Maathai’s daughter and others, Lonsdale recounts the women’s adventures across five continents. Evocative and inspiring, this book shows how women can be ‘wildly different’.
Lonsdale, Sarah
Manchester University Press
, 2025
; English
; 293 Pages
The globe-trotting tales of five women who fought for the right to enjoy the wild places of the earth. For millennia the ‘wild’ was a place heroic men went on epic quests. Women were prevented from joining them, either through physical control or powerful myths about what would happen if they ventured beyond the city wall or village boundary. So how did women claim their place in the remote and lovely parts of our planet? In Wildly different, historian Sarah Lonsdale traces the lives of five women who fought for the right to work in, enjoy and help to save the earth’s wild places. We’ll meet Mina Hubbard, who outraged the exploration community when she stepped into a canoe in northern Labrador. Evelyn Cheesman, who became the first female keeper of insects at London Zoo. Dorothy Pilley, who shocked polite society by donning men’s climbing breeches. Ethel Haythornthwaite, who helped make the Peak District Britain’s first National Park. And Wangari Maathai, who started a movement to plant millions of trees across sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on interviews with Sir David Attenborough, Wangari Maathai’s daughter and others, Lonsdale recounts the women’s adventures across five continents. Evocative and inspiring, this book shows how women can be ‘wildly different’.
eBook
The key to everything : May Swenson, a writer's life
Brucia, Margaret A.
Princeton University Press
, 2025
; English
; 289 Pages
May Swenson (1913–1989) was one of the most important and original poets of the twentieth century. The Key to Everything is a biography of this experimental American modernist that draws directly from her unpublished diaries and her letters to friends, family, and colleagues, most notably Elizabeth Bishop. In 1952, Swenson wrote in her diary, “I want to confirm my life in a narrative—my Lesbianism, the hereditary background of my parents, grandparents, origins in the ‘old country.’” Taking up Swenson’s uncompleted autobiographical plan, Margaret Brucia tells Swenson’s story as much as possible through her own words.
While chronicling the whole of Swenson’s life, this book focuses on the period from 1936 to 1959, when she came of age artistically and personally in New York City. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the Federal Writers’ Project, Greenwich Village, and the emergence of gay culture, Swenson’s diaries lay bare her aspirations, fears, joys, and disappointments. Readers see the poet and person emerge, inextricably entwined, as Swenson describes her struggles with poverty, anonymity, and predatory men; her romantic relationships; the people she met, the books she read, and the work she produced.
The most detailed and intimate biography of Swenson to date, The Key to Everything is a unique portrait of a poet who resisted labels throughout her life.
Brucia, Margaret A.
Princeton University Press
, 2025
; English
; 289 Pages
May Swenson (1913–1989) was one of the most important and original poets of the twentieth century. The Key to Everything is a biography of this experimental American modernist that draws directly from her unpublished diaries and her letters to friends, family, and colleagues, most notably Elizabeth Bishop. In 1952, Swenson wrote in her diary, “I want to confirm my life in a narrative—my Lesbianism, the hereditary background of my parents, grandparents, origins in the ‘old country.’” Taking up Swenson’s uncompleted autobiographical plan, Margaret Brucia tells Swenson’s story as much as possible through her own words.
While chronicling the whole of Swenson’s life, this book focuses on the period from 1936 to 1959, when she came of age artistically and personally in New York City. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the Federal Writers’ Project, Greenwich Village, and the emergence of gay culture, Swenson’s diaries lay bare her aspirations, fears, joys, and disappointments. Readers see the poet and person emerge, inextricably entwined, as Swenson describes her struggles with poverty, anonymity, and predatory men; her romantic relationships; the people she met, the books she read, and the work she produced.
The most detailed and intimate biography of Swenson to date, The Key to Everything is a unique portrait of a poet who resisted labels throughout her life.
eBook
1960s model girl: narrative identities in fashion, time and history
McDowell, Felice
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
, 2025
; English
; 209 Pages
Examining histories of post-war Britain, fashion, modelling, photography and popular culture, 1960s Model Girl: Narrative Identities in Fashion, Time and History explores model girl narratives found throughout media, fashion magazines, advice literature, auto/biographies and fashion exhibits.
Introducing theories of history, life-writing and narrative identity, 1960s Model Girl demonstrates how these can be applied to the study of fashion and shows how fashion studies opens new pathways to understanding identity and emergent British femininities. Drawing on a wealth of archival research, case studies include teen fashion magazines Petticoat and Model Girl
advice writing of model agent Lucie Clayton and fashion journalist Suzy Menkes
autobiographies of fashion models Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy
and the Mary Quant exhibition, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2019-2020).
This book provides an intricate study of a varied and manifold figure whose impact and influence spreads further afield than a particular time, place and professional context. Closely attending to a range of model girl narratives, 1960s Model Girl illuminates the cultural past and, in turn, sheds light on our own historical present.
McDowell, Felice
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
, 2025
; English
; 209 Pages
Examining histories of post-war Britain, fashion, modelling, photography and popular culture, 1960s Model Girl: Narrative Identities in Fashion, Time and History explores model girl narratives found throughout media, fashion magazines, advice literature, auto/biographies and fashion exhibits.
Introducing theories of history, life-writing and narrative identity, 1960s Model Girl demonstrates how these can be applied to the study of fashion and shows how fashion studies opens new pathways to understanding identity and emergent British femininities. Drawing on a wealth of archival research, case studies include teen fashion magazines Petticoat and Model Girl
advice writing of model agent Lucie Clayton and fashion journalist Suzy Menkes
autobiographies of fashion models Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy
and the Mary Quant exhibition, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2019-2020).
This book provides an intricate study of a varied and manifold figure whose impact and influence spreads further afield than a particular time, place and professional context. Closely attending to a range of model girl narratives, 1960s Model Girl illuminates the cultural past and, in turn, sheds light on our own historical present.
eBook
The uncollected letters of virginia woolf
Stephen Barkway,; Stuart N. Clarke
Edinburgh University Press
, 2025
; English
; 1055 Pages
Many previously undiscovered letters from Virginia Woolf have come to light since the original six-volume Collected Letters was published between 1975 and 1980.
Over 1,400 are included in this vital new book, illuminating facets of Woolf's life that have previously been hidden or only glimpsed.
Important letters to contemporary writers, such as Stella Benson, Rebecca West, Lyn Lloyd Irvine and Berta Ruck, have been unearthed from archives, as well as fifty letters to T.
S. Eliot. This book also features substantial collections of letters to Lady Colefax, Winifred Holtby, Mary Hutchinson, Christabel McLaren (Lady Aberconway) and Raymond Mortimer, as well as previously unrecorded correspondents.
Through these letters we see Woolf encouraging would-be authors and negotiating with editors, literary agents and foreign translators in her role as a professional writer.
The Uncollected Letters of Virginia Woolf provides extraordinary insight into the variety of acquaintance of one of the most fascinating literary figures of the twentieth century.
Stephen Barkway,; Stuart N. Clarke
Edinburgh University Press
, 2025
; English
; 1055 Pages
Many previously undiscovered letters from Virginia Woolf have come to light since the original six-volume Collected Letters was published between 1975 and 1980.
Over 1,400 are included in this vital new book, illuminating facets of Woolf's life that have previously been hidden or only glimpsed.
Important letters to contemporary writers, such as Stella Benson, Rebecca West, Lyn Lloyd Irvine and Berta Ruck, have been unearthed from archives, as well as fifty letters to T.
S. Eliot. This book also features substantial collections of letters to Lady Colefax, Winifred Holtby, Mary Hutchinson, Christabel McLaren (Lady Aberconway) and Raymond Mortimer, as well as previously unrecorded correspondents.
Through these letters we see Woolf encouraging would-be authors and negotiating with editors, literary agents and foreign translators in her role as a professional writer.
The Uncollected Letters of Virginia Woolf provides extraordinary insight into the variety of acquaintance of one of the most fascinating literary figures of the twentieth century.
