“Difficult Women” by Helen Lewis – let’s read and discuss!
Details
Welcome back, readers! We continue our feminist journey with “Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights” by Helen Lewis.
Here’s a summary:
> Well-behaved women don’t make history: difficult women do. Feminism’s success is down to complicated, contradictory, imperfect women, who fought each other as well as fighting for equal rights. Helen Lewis argues that too many of these pioneers have been whitewashed or forgotten in our modern search for feel-good, inspirational heroines. It’s time to reclaim the history of feminism as a history of difficult women.
> In this book, you’ll meet the working-class suffragettes who advocated bombings and arson; the princess who discovered why so many women were having bad sex; the pioneer of the refuge movement who became a men’s rights activist; the ‘striker in a sari’ who terrified Margaret Thatcher; the wronged Victorian wife who definitely wasn’t sleeping with the prime minister; and the lesbian politician who outraged the country. Taking the story up to the present with the twenty-first-century campaign for abortion services, Helen Lewis reveals the unvarnished – and unfinished – history of women’s rights.
> Drawing on archival research and interviews, Difficult Women is a funny, fearless and sometimes shocking narrative history, which shows why the feminist movement has succeeded – and what it should do next. The battle is difficult, and we must be difficult too.
Each chapter deals with a distinct theme: Divorce, Vote, Sex, Play, Work, Safety, Love, Education, Time and Abortion – so it should be possible to pick and choose, in case you don’t want to read all 300 pages. As always, you can find more information on the book’s GoodReads page and additionally, here’s a short review from The Guardian.
Curious to join us? Order a copy at your local book shop or online:
An e-book is also available, as well as an audio version read by the author herself.
Our meeting is scheduled for August 18, 2026 and we usually discuss in English for 1.5-2 hours. You definitely don’t need a literature degree to participate! It’s important to us to listen to each other, to treat everyone with respect and to create a safe setting.
The discussion takes place virtually in Zoom and the meeting link will be added to this event on the day it happens. Just check back here half an hour before the meetup starts!
It doesn’t matter if you have actually finished the book or whether you’ve attended before – everyone is welcome, as long as you have read at least a few pages and bring your impression.