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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Using a case study structure, we follow different women that helped change English laws, all of which usually fall under the radar. The narrative tone of writing employed is beneficial for emphasising how underpinned misogyny and female violence truly were. However, the style sometimes meant the characters were hard to immediately recognise and place within their stories. That being said, I highly recommend this book, even if it's just to see how much work is still left to do- the similarities between 2022 and 1900 are scarily frequent.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Having loved Kate Morgan's book on the laws surrounding murder, I was prepared to quite enjoy The Walnut Tree -- though, being a history of the rights of women through discussing the laws and legal cases that shaped them, it was bound to be pretty grim in some ways. And of course it was: it's not easy (and nor should it be) to read about the way men used to be allowed to abuse women and deprive them of liberty, and how women were faulted for all kinds of things in order that people shouldn't have to convict the men in their lives of anything.
Still, Morgan tells the story through well-chosen cases that illustrate a lot of the anxieties and questions in people's minds at the time, and she manages to bring it all to life in a way that I (at least) find very readable and enjoyable. She has a knack for settings things out clearly and engagingly, and I enjoy this tactic of taking a legal-eye view of things.
That said, of course (as I mentioned), it does discuss some horrible cases and some very unfortunate women -- abused, kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered. It's saddening and infuriating, and sometimes it's worse to think about the fact that some of these excuses and attitudes can still be found today. "She was asking for it", "it was a crime of passion", "she owed me"...
Not a comfortable read, but one that I found fascinating.
Still, Morgan tells the story through well-chosen cases that illustrate a lot of the anxieties and questions in people's minds at the time, and she manages to bring it all to life in a way that I (at least) find very readable and enjoyable. She has a knack for settings things out clearly and engagingly, and I enjoy this tactic of taking a legal-eye view of things.
That said, of course (as I mentioned), it does discuss some horrible cases and some very unfortunate women -- abused, kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered. It's saddening and infuriating, and sometimes it's worse to think about the fact that some of these excuses and attitudes can still be found today. "She was asking for it", "it was a crime of passion", "she owed me"...
Not a comfortable read, but one that I found fascinating.
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced