A review by larksnest
Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu

5.0

This book is exquisite! The art is great and tells the story amazingly well. The stories are short, but nuanced and interesting. There were many women featured in this book that I hadn't come across before, which is a boon - there are a LOT of books on the market right now about feminists, gutsy women, etc, all seeming to mostly feature familiar heroines such as Frida Kahlo and Amelia Earhart; this book focuses on some lesser known badasses. I loved it. It was also very inclusive of non-white women, and women all across the LGBTQIA spectrum, which is lovely and heartening.

I read this book while going through a particularly hard time, and it really helped, if only for moments, to remember that not everyone has their life figured out, or perfectly lined up, by a certain age. Several of the rebel ladies featured in this book didn't discover their passion or activism until later in life - some of them were married with kids before ever working a job or making their way out into the world. Its good to know that everyone's mark on the world is different, and it doesn't need to happen by the time you're thirty.

I'd happily recommend this book to everyone, and have no doubt I'll be revisiting it - certainly from an artistic storytelling standpoint.