Showing results by narrator "Fenella Fudge" in All Categories

Weaving together stories of her subjects' troubles and her mother's decline, Noga Arikha searches for some meaning in the science she has set out to study. She explores how the self studies itself and how it loses itself, delving into the scientific research that can help us understand how deeply interconnected are our minds and bodies. The result is an unforgettable journey across the ever-shifting boundaries between ourselves and each other.

In England in the 1700s, a woman who was an intellectual, spoke out, or wrote professionally was considered unnatural. After all, as the wisdom of the era dictated, a clever woman—if there were such a thing—would never make a good wife. But a circle of women called the Bluestockings did something extraordinary: Coming together in glittering salons to discuss and debate as intellectual equals with men, they fought for women to be educated and to have a public role in society. In this intimate and revelatory history, Susannah Gibson delves into the lives of these pioneering women.

In 1799 all of Europe is at war. In Palermo 16-year-old singer-in-training Anna Maria Ludovisi is married by her dying father to Captain Henry Duncannon, the perennial bachelor. Minutes after the wedding he sets sail. The threat of French invasion causes Anna to flee to Paris. At the end of the revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte is transforming France; Anna must transform herself into a professional singer in order to survive.

It's a scandal that 27-year-old Sarah Stanborough is still unwed. Despite her matchmaking mother's fervent wishes, Sarah refuses to encourage the eminently eligible John Phillip North, marquis of Revesne. The arrogant bounder has actually fought duels to keep her potential suitors at bay. Only one man attracts the independent spinster: handsome Edward Middleton, her young cousin's guardian, who detests the frivolous gossip and shallow flirtations of London society as much as she does.

Annabel Abbs's Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women is a beautifully written meditation on connecting with the outdoors through the simple act of walking. In captivating and elegant prose, Abbs follows in the footsteps of women who boldly reclaimed wild landscapes for themselves, including Georgia O'Keeffe in the empty plains of Texas and New Mexico, Nan Shepherd in the mountains of Scotland, Gwen John following the French River Garonne, Daphne du Maurier along the River Rhône, and Simone de Beauvoir - who walked as much as 25 miles a day in a dress.