Description
Book SynopsisLondon, 1877. A petite young woman stands before an all-male jury, about to risk everything. She takes a breath, and opens her defence.
Annie Besant and her confidant Charles Bradlaugh are on trial for the sordid crime of publishing and selling a birth control pamphlet. Remarkably forty-five years before the first woman will be admitted to the English bar Annie is defending herself. Before Britain's highest judge she declares it is a woman's right to choose when, and if, to have children. At a time when women were legally and socially subservient to men, Annie's defiant voice was a sensation. The riveting trial scandalised newspapers, captivated the British public and sparked a debate over morals, censorship and sex.
Drawing on unpublished archives, private papers and courtroom transcripts and featuring an incredible cast including Queen Victoria, George Bernard Shaw and London itself A Dirty, Filthy Book tells the gripping story of a forgotten pionee
Trade Review
Makes the case for Annie Besant as a truly eminent Victorian, as brilliant and fearless as she was beautiful . . . [A] witty and entertaining account * The Times, Book of the Week *
Drawn from newspaper accounts, court records, and Besant's own memoir, Meyer's depiction of Besant fighting for reproductive rights, almost 150 years ago, is truly marvellous . . . Meyer succeeds admirably in his efforts to bring to light the story of a truly remarkable and courageous woman -- Kate Lister * Daily Telegraph *
Michael Meyer has mined the rich seams of history and woven together a fascinating and gripping narrative. Beautifully told, it has echoes for today. I don’t know how he does it -- Adam Hochschild, author of KING LEOPOLD'S GHOST
Annie Besant was a freethinker and a half – an indomitable woman who challenged many of the discriminatory views of her day and put all her energies into social change. A great read -- Prof. Helen Pankhurst CBE, Women’s Rights Campaigner
Hugely entertaining, told with verve and humour, with a riveting court trial at its heart. A terrific study of the Victorian controversy and criminalisation of contraception and the dire consequences for women of confusing medicine with morals. At last, Annie Besant has found a champion equal to the task of doing justice to her crusading life and the significance of her achievements. Victorian patriarchy denied Besant her rightful place in political history: Michael Meyer has reinstated her, in all her glorious complexity, as the pioneering feminist changemaker in Britain's history of morals, censorship and sex -- Rachel Holmes, author of SYLVIA PANKHURST and ELEANOR MARX
At a time when reproductive rights are being rolled back globally, as well as worryingly close to home, [Besant's] story needs retelling until its message is set in stone * Guardian *
