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And Still We March: The touching memoir telling the story of feminism and the fight for women’s rights then and now through the true story of a family
Retracing my mother’s footsteps in search of women’s freedom1974. A 22-year-old Jacqui French stands for a photograph in Omaha, Nebraska, thousands of miles from home.
Behind a carefree smile lies a fierce hope, fuelled by the promise of a new beginning and the tapestry of opportunity an America of Gloria Steinem, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, and the newly passed Roe v. Wade, appeared to offer.
The world was changing, and women’s fortunes seemed to be changing with it.
It was this photo of her mother, discovered by accident decades later, that set Marisa on the path to writing this book. The face echoed one she knew intimately, yet the image revealed an untold story. Marisa’s memories of her mother are of a woman shorn of that same carefree energy, a mum worn down by the direct actions of men in her life, still resolutely determined to show Marisa and her brother a world wider than their own. Generous with what little time single motherhood and a full-time job afforded her. An inspirational sharer of stories. But tired. Always tired. The photo offered a glimpse of something different, of what came before.
Today this story of promise similarly seems at risk of being written over, as women around the world suffer in the face of populism, a politics that thrives on divisiveness, and a determined assault on women’s rights. Meanwhile, the women for whom this all feels disturbingly familiar are being lost to time. That same tapestry of opportunity now feels threadbare. Did hope, for Marisa’s mother and women like her, get left in 1974?
The answer lies in what happened in between.
Following a great feminist tradition of sharing women’s stories, and with a keen understanding of the principal “the personal is political”, Marisa will attempt to fill in the gaps. In Wild Hope, Marisa traces her mother’s story across decades, following in her footsteps to discover what happened next. In doing so, a much bigger story of women across that same period will be told, as she seeks context for the events that shaped her mother’s life.
Behind a carefree smile lies a fierce hope, fuelled by the promise of a new beginning and the tapestry of opportunity an America of Gloria Steinem, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, and the newly passed Roe v. Wade, appeared to offer.
The world was changing, and women’s fortunes seemed to be changing with it.
It was this photo of her mother, discovered by accident decades later, that set Marisa on the path to writing this book. The face echoed one she knew intimately, yet the image revealed an untold story. Marisa’s memories of her mother are of a woman shorn of that same carefree energy, a mum worn down by the direct actions of men in her life, still resolutely determined to show Marisa and her brother a world wider than their own. Generous with what little time single motherhood and a full-time job afforded her. An inspirational sharer of stories. But tired. Always tired. The photo offered a glimpse of something different, of what came before.
Today this story of promise similarly seems at risk of being written over, as women around the world suffer in the face of populism, a politics that thrives on divisiveness, and a determined assault on women’s rights. Meanwhile, the women for whom this all feels disturbingly familiar are being lost to time. That same tapestry of opportunity now feels threadbare. Did hope, for Marisa’s mother and women like her, get left in 1974?
The answer lies in what happened in between.
Following a great feminist tradition of sharing women’s stories, and with a keen understanding of the principal “the personal is political”, Marisa will attempt to fill in the gaps. In Wild Hope, Marisa traces her mother’s story across decades, following in her footsteps to discover what happened next. In doing so, a much bigger story of women across that same period will be told, as she seeks context for the events that shaped her mother’s life.
- GenresFeminismNonfiction
303 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 22, 2023
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59 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 21, 2025
Like Marisa, I’ve had a confusingly compelling relationship with the States in recent years.
I spent three of 2024’s twelve months in New York City - expeditions to Boston, New Hampshire and Philly on the side. I was in a Bed-Study bodega as the news announced Trump was shot, and at a Ridgewood houseparty when he won the general election.
In recent days, I’ve found myself hovering over the “buy tickets” button for a return to the land of milk and mamdani, despite the fact that the US is rapidly circling the fascist drainpipe.
This tension - in which a land built on the promise of hope crumbles before us - is laid out well by Bates. She blends memoir and politics with deft, providing an intriguing personal narrative alongside polemics.
Some of her accounts do blur into each other a little, and I found myself craving the anecdotes of her’s and her mother’s lives more than the slightly samey interviews.
Nevertheless, as a record of journalistic fervour and a call to action on behalf of American women, this volume serve its purpose and was a joy to read.
4*
I spent three of 2024’s twelve months in New York City - expeditions to Boston, New Hampshire and Philly on the side. I was in a Bed-Study bodega as the news announced Trump was shot, and at a Ridgewood houseparty when he won the general election.
In recent days, I’ve found myself hovering over the “buy tickets” button for a return to the land of milk and mamdani, despite the fact that the US is rapidly circling the fascist drainpipe.
This tension - in which a land built on the promise of hope crumbles before us - is laid out well by Bates. She blends memoir and politics with deft, providing an intriguing personal narrative alongside polemics.
Some of her accounts do blur into each other a little, and I found myself craving the anecdotes of her’s and her mother’s lives more than the slightly samey interviews.
Nevertheless, as a record of journalistic fervour and a call to action on behalf of American women, this volume serve its purpose and was a joy to read.
4*
August 17, 2023
I love these hard-to-categorise books that are part social history, part travelogue, part reportage, part memoir - and this is a brilliant one. The author is a deft interviewer, delivering insightful and often profound moments with the people she meets along the way. Many writers would overlook the women she meets as ordinary, but the author has a gift for alerting us to the extraordinary in the ordinary, a theme she comes back to time and again, particularly when reflecting on growing up with an exhausted, put upon, but devoted single mother.
May 31, 2025
An introduction to the horrors of abortion laws in the US but no more than that. Will make you want to read a heck of a lot more on the subject and to hear stories from those impacted. This touches the surface but feels restricted by the structure as a memoir (of sorts).
November 13, 2023
Really enjoyed this. It’s beautifully written and weaves a feminist history of the last fifty years with a personal journey and the relationship of a daughter with her mother.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews