Unquiet Women

Breathing new life into the narratives of ‘forgotten’ historical women

Author Max Adams Publisher Head of Zeus Price £20 Released Out now

Efforts to rewrite women back into history have exploded in recent years, with various works bringing to the fore the rebels, the pioneers, the forgotten. Now Max Adams introduces us to his Unquiet Women, inspiring individuals who lived incredible lives between the last days of Rome and the Enlightenment, and yet are rarely remembered today.

His global cast has been assembled to show us that women of these times were not all either royals, nuns or otherwise invisible.

And their stories sparkle off the pages. We learn of the formidable legacy of Alfred (Aelfred) the Great’s daughter Aethelflaed,

‘Lady of the Mercians’; meet Mary Astell, the philosopher who went toe-to-toe with John Locke; and discover how Anna Comnena constructed the Alexiad, the epic retelling of the life of her father Emperor Alexius

I of Constantinople. Each chapter is also accompanied by one or more passages examining wider tales of women’s experiences. The chapter Testaments – exploring early Medieval writing – includes sections on the women found with the Oseberg ship burial discovered in Norway in 1903, and the cultural golden age of Al-andalus, the heart of Islamic Spain (now Andalusia).

These lives are skilfully placed by Adams to present an engaging work demonstrating the diverse legacies of such women who in their own way were able to subvert some part of the gender constraints of their time. Unquiet Women is a timely work which is beautifully designed and executed, embodying a charm and power of its own from the remarkable women within its pages.