Elizabeth Longford has chosena group ofVictorian women who, in their actions or writing, challenged the repressive rules of established society. They include Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte, whose cloistered lives were illuminated by the vividness of their creative genius; Josephine Butler, who brought about the end of the infamous Contagious Diseases Acts; Annie Besant, who campaigned vigorously for the rights of women subject to unreasonable husbands or harsh employers; Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose novel "Uncle Tom s Cabin" brought the cruelties of slavery to the world s attention; and James Barry, born Margaret Bulkley, medical reformer and arguably the first British female to qualify as a suregon.This isafascinating account ofa crucialperiod of struggle for women s rights and of some of the remarkable personalities who took part."