How one Jacqueline WIlson book taught me my Mum was more than ‘mental’ and why we should treat the ‘maddened mother’ trope with more nuance. “What is a Bitch?” I asked. I sat cross-legged on my floor, nestled between my Sylvanian families, balancing Mr...
In a world where social media is adding to the countless romance titles on our ‘to be read’ lists, are our favourite book men setting the bar too high when it comes to our standards and turning us into toxic women? If you were to ask a single, heterosexual female...
Disability has been written into books throughout history – but why are disabled characters either ‘helpless’ or ‘a hero’, and not just ‘normal?’ Sitting in his wheelchair looking out into the expansive garden which surrounds his home,...
When you think of classic books, are you transported back to your English literature classroom; staring out the window whilst your teacher bored you with Shakespeare? I can admit too, when I first started reading classic literature, I could not get my head around...
From Gone Girl to The Power, depictions of angry women have been a popular subject for many authors; but do these narratives embolden the modern woman or feed into toxic stereotypes? Beginning with the monstrous Medusa, continuing to Jane Eyre and, now, Gone Girl’s...
Historically, the publishing industry has been predominantly middle class and white. In 2023, the publishing industry is still predominantly middle class and white. Publishing is the least socially diverse of all the UK’s creative industries. 47% of all authors,...
