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shellydennison's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Fascinating and enjoyable joint biography of five women - all writers and thinke s of different kinds - who lived on the same London Square. The connections between them aren't overplayed and the ways that their lives and work were changed during the period they lived in the Square are thoughtfully brought out.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War
Minor: Suicide
lc200's review against another edition
4.0
A really interesting idea for a book, and it worked very well, and was clearly meticulously researched. A little depressing that, a century later, family money and help with childcare/no children, are still pretty essential for women to make their way in the worlds of academia and literature.
swarnak84's review against another edition
2.0
Five interesting women, with tangential links, but using Mecklenberg Square to link them just isn't cohesive.
I would rate the Dorothy L Sayers and Eileen Power chapters as 4* and I very much enjoyed them, however, they seemed appetisers to finding out more. I struggled through the HD chapter, Jane Harrison perhaps should have been the first chapter. As for Virginia Woolf - I feel her inclusion is a marketing gimmick for the book as the author could never hope to cover her in any depth here. Perhaps she should have been left to drift in and out of the other women's lives and experiences without having a Chapter of her own.
I would rate the Dorothy L Sayers and Eileen Power chapters as 4* and I very much enjoyed them, however, they seemed appetisers to finding out more. I struggled through the HD chapter, Jane Harrison perhaps should have been the first chapter. As for Virginia Woolf - I feel her inclusion is a marketing gimmick for the book as the author could never hope to cover her in any depth here. Perhaps she should have been left to drift in and out of the other women's lives and experiences without having a Chapter of her own.
readingoverbreathing's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
I've had my eye on this book for a while — in fact, even almost went to an author event at Topping that was unfortunately cancelled in the early wake of COVID. So when I found a used paperback copy in excellent condition at an Oxfam, I simply couldn't resist.
And honestly, this was everything I wanted it to be and more. I always find any nonfiction to be a bit of a gamble — you don't always know if it's going to be worth your time and energy. But to me, this was worth every single word. Wade manages to pull off an incredibly impressive feat, packing five comprehensive, detailed biographies into less than 300 pages. Seriously, the amount of detail here is astounding; every single sentence is packed with it, putting Wade's powers of research on full display. She even manages to find kernels of connection between the five women she features, really creating a vivid portrayal of interwar Bloomsbury that truly brings these women and their worlds to life.
Despite this level of detail, the narrative itself never feels too heavy or bogged down and is in fact immensely readable, not quite at novel level, but just about. I really found myself eager to dig in every time I went to pick this up; I learned so much, too, about both those already familiar to me (H.D., Sayers, Woolf) and those that weren't (Harrison, Power).
I will admit that I have long had a penchant for this period in literary history, and especially the women who defined it, so this was very much up my alley. But I would still certainly recommend it to anyone with an interest in women scholars and writers; this is an absolutely fascinating portrait of 5 women who all at various points in their extraordinary lives lived within mere feet of one another.
And honestly, this was everything I wanted it to be and more. I always find any nonfiction to be a bit of a gamble — you don't always know if it's going to be worth your time and energy. But to me, this was worth every single word. Wade manages to pull off an incredibly impressive feat, packing five comprehensive, detailed biographies into less than 300 pages. Seriously, the amount of detail here is astounding; every single sentence is packed with it, putting Wade's powers of research on full display. She even manages to find kernels of connection between the five women she features, really creating a vivid portrayal of interwar Bloomsbury that truly brings these women and their worlds to life.
Despite this level of detail, the narrative itself never feels too heavy or bogged down and is in fact immensely readable, not quite at novel level, but just about. I really found myself eager to dig in every time I went to pick this up; I learned so much, too, about both those already familiar to me (H.D., Sayers, Woolf) and those that weren't (Harrison, Power).
I will admit that I have long had a penchant for this period in literary history, and especially the women who defined it, so this was very much up my alley. But I would still certainly recommend it to anyone with an interest in women scholars and writers; this is an absolutely fascinating portrait of 5 women who all at various points in their extraordinary lives lived within mere feet of one another.
hooksforeverything's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
The telling of stories about women who believed that telling stories about women was intrinsically revolutionary.
miguelf's review against another edition
4.0
A compilation of 5 biographies, all of British women writers in the years in between the World Wars. There’s a tenuous connection with their lives in which all lived at one point in or around a location in London, but it’s a good enough excuse to cover the lives and works of some of these very well known (Woolf & HD) and some of the lesser known figures. It kicks off with HD and it’s likely the strongest section, at least for me. Workmanlike, it provides a good overview but certainly doesn’t blow the reader away. The Woolf section was better than the earlier published biography that came out this year (“Virginia Woolf: And the Women Who Shaped Her World”), but at the same time the recent book “No Man’s Land” documented the lives of the first women war surgeons in the first WW in London who were also of that era and a bit more unsung.
backpackfullofbooks's review
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
dystopia's review
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Infidelity
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Death, Classism, War, Suicide, and Miscarriage