International Women’s Day

Now onto the amazing books for adults I have been reading myself recently by female authors.

Driving Forward by Sophie Morgan

Most recently, I read Driving Forward by Sophie Morgan. If you haven’t watched Sophie’s show ‘Living Wild’ on BBC1 yet, I would highly recommend. Sophie travels around visiting people who made the decision to leave their jobs and forge a new life in the wild. In the programme Sophie visits a range of people including a man who moved to a remote island to tend to goats, a woman who uses her artistic skills as a narrow boat sign painter and my favourite was a couple who opened an alpaca farm. Despite the terrible pang of how my own life choices haven’t led me to an alpaca farm, the programme always leaves me feeling uplifted and calm and that is mainly due to the excellent presenting from Sophie and when I heard she had written a book, I was intrigued.

Sophie is a paraplegic and her book ‘Driving Forward’ is her telling the story of her life including in great detail the life changing moment when she was paralysed in a car crash. As you would imagine this is not an easy read, but it does feel ground breaking in its honesty, and although Sophie doesn’t like the word it does feel inspiring in the way Sophie’s experience led her to campaign and make a big difference in areas such as human rights and driver safety. I’d highly recommend.

Wanderers: A History of Women Walking by Kerri Andrews

As a woman who likes walking, this book looked like an apt purchase. I’ve just signed up for my first long distance walk and I will be tackling the 100 mile long West Highland Way in May. As part of my preparation, I have been reading lots of books about walking, and it had struck me that a lot of these books are by male authors. This is something that Kerri Andrew wanted to address, by bringing together and analysing extracts from some of the most prolific female authors who write about walking. She starts with Elizabeth Carter whose experience demonstrates the privilege it is to have the freedom to walk and not be confined to ‘taking a turn around the garden’, like most eighteenth century women would have had access to. Elizabeth was the exception to this rule and her commitment and love for walking transcends time and is infectious. Andrews covers the experience of ten female authors/ walkers and one of the last pieces she explores is Cheryl Strayd’s Wild, which is one of my favourite books and films. Her combination of writing about walking, finding ways to manage her mental health and interspersing the books that inspire her really appeals to me. I will write another blog looking into more detail at all the books I have been reading about walking, but I really appreciate Kerri Andrews putting this selection together and definitely think it should be celebrated this IWD.

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy by Marie Claire Amuah

The final book I wanted to celebrate is the debut novel of Marie Claire Amuah; a fiction story about Stella, a British Ghanian Lawyer and her experiences growing up. The story starts in Stella’s childhood and takes us on a journey through Stella’s teens and into adulthood. It is written from Stella’s point of view and the narrative voice ages as Stella ages. Amuah manages to do this seamlessly, so that as the reader you feel like you are witnessing someone authentically reaching adulthood. I laughed and cried along with Stella as she faced endless challenges including domestic violence, racism and mental health struggles, with bravery and the support of some incredible friends. Although the content was challenging, the relatability, honesty and strength of Stella made this an ultimately hopeful story that would be a great book to purchase this IWD.

I could go on sharing many more fantastic books by female authors, based on the stories of inspirational women or with incredible female characters, but hopefully I’ve shared something already that has caught your interest. I’d love to hear if you have also enjoyed these stories, or if you have another book you’d like to shout about this IWD. It would be great to hear about the fantastic female authors you have been sharing with your classes too. We may be outraged by the inequality in the GCSE specification, but we can start to address this by increasing the amount of female authors pupils are exposed to before they reach their GCSES. Have a great day!