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Beyond Belief
A celebration and exploration of gossip, reclaiming it as a powerful tool for building relationships, sharing vital information and enabling women’s voices to be heard.
Tittle-tattle. Hearsay. Rumours. Bitching. Tea.
Call it what you the fact remains that gossip is entwined into our daily lives. From group WhatsApp chats to click-bait headlines, social media snooping to reality television, there is nothing more devilishly delicious, scandalous, and satisfying than a juicy piece of gossip.
All-too-often dismissed as the past-time of silly schoolgirls and bored housewives, there’s more to gossip than meets the eye. In today’s world of misinformation, where the voices and stories of women are being silenced, gossip has the power to shatter reputations and destroy credibility. Yet it can also be a vital political tool; a communication style that strengthens relationships and can even act a life-saving measure.
Tracing gossip’s roots from old wives’ tales and the witch trials to reality TV, whisper networks and defamation lawsuits, Beyond Belief asks, have we lost the ability to listen; to hear, and to believe women who speak up and speak out?
A joyous reclamation of women’s words, this book is for anyone who’s ever uttered the words, ‘You won’t believe this…’
Call it what you the fact remains that gossip is entwined into our daily lives. From group WhatsApp chats to click-bait headlines, social media snooping to reality television, there is nothing more devilishly delicious, scandalous, and satisfying than a juicy piece of gossip.
All-too-often dismissed as the past-time of silly schoolgirls and bored housewives, there’s more to gossip than meets the eye. In today’s world of misinformation, where the voices and stories of women are being silenced, gossip has the power to shatter reputations and destroy credibility. Yet it can also be a vital political tool; a communication style that strengthens relationships and can even act a life-saving measure.
Tracing gossip’s roots from old wives’ tales and the witch trials to reality TV, whisper networks and defamation lawsuits, Beyond Belief asks, have we lost the ability to listen; to hear, and to believe women who speak up and speak out?
A joyous reclamation of women’s words, this book is for anyone who’s ever uttered the words, ‘You won’t believe this…’
- GenresNonfiction
375 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 12, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 12, 2026
3.5 ⭐️
A well-researched book that I mostly enjoyed reading! However, the topic seems to be more „the treatment of women/necessity of feminism at different times in history“ which was interesting but I wish it would’ve focused more on gossip.
A well-researched book that I mostly enjoyed reading! However, the topic seems to be more „the treatment of women/necessity of feminism at different times in history“ which was interesting but I wish it would’ve focused more on gossip.
June 14, 2026
A thoroughly researched feminist rant, I didn’t mind it.
July 7, 2026
Beyond Belief uses gossip as a springboard for discussing feminism. The underlying theme she repeatedly comes back to is how "unbelievable" women are, or rather, how gossip is used to undermine womens' credibility.
She challenges our current conception of what gossip is, broadening our perespective on the matter. Gossip is not limited to bitching about someone behind their back, it is a social mechanism used by women (and men) to establish social bonds and navigate society.
I want to qualify my review of this book by stating that a lot of the arguments and facts Baskerville presents are not necessarily new. Most of the things she writes about, you've probably already seen floating around on the internet. For instance, I'm pretty sure I have seen TikToks before essentially emphasising the importance of gossip as the foundation for whisper networks. Baskerville has a whole chapter on this. But, a good book does not need to be defined by the novelty of its information or ideas. In Beyond Belief, Baskerville expands upon these ideas and does the important work of collating all of these independent bits and bobs, threading them into a narrative that subverts our perception of "gossip". Through this compilation of ideas, and by applying the subject of gossip to the variety of issues that women face, Baskerville shows us the bigger picture. She illustrates how gossip has been weaponised by the partiarchy to subjugate women through the containment of their ability to speak freely.
Baskerville's commitment to the craft of journalism is quite clear in this book, which I admire. Her passion comes through in the sheer amount of research she conducts. Not only does she interview multiple experts, she also cites a variety of sources, many of which are seminal pieces of feminist literature.
Overall, the writing is easy to read and makes familiar references to pop culture news and recent events. I would recommend it as an eye-opening and timely piece on gossip through a feminist lens.
She challenges our current conception of what gossip is, broadening our perespective on the matter. Gossip is not limited to bitching about someone behind their back, it is a social mechanism used by women (and men) to establish social bonds and navigate society.
I want to qualify my review of this book by stating that a lot of the arguments and facts Baskerville presents are not necessarily new. Most of the things she writes about, you've probably already seen floating around on the internet. For instance, I'm pretty sure I have seen TikToks before essentially emphasising the importance of gossip as the foundation for whisper networks. Baskerville has a whole chapter on this. But, a good book does not need to be defined by the novelty of its information or ideas. In Beyond Belief, Baskerville expands upon these ideas and does the important work of collating all of these independent bits and bobs, threading them into a narrative that subverts our perception of "gossip". Through this compilation of ideas, and by applying the subject of gossip to the variety of issues that women face, Baskerville shows us the bigger picture. She illustrates how gossip has been weaponised by the partiarchy to subjugate women through the containment of their ability to speak freely.
Baskerville's commitment to the craft of journalism is quite clear in this book, which I admire. Her passion comes through in the sheer amount of research she conducts. Not only does she interview multiple experts, she also cites a variety of sources, many of which are seminal pieces of feminist literature.
Overall, the writing is easy to read and makes familiar references to pop culture news and recent events. I would recommend it as an eye-opening and timely piece on gossip through a feminist lens.
May 28, 2026
⭐️3.75
Very educational! A very important read especially in times like these. It was so interesting to me. A very empowering and inspiring read. It underlines how important feminism is (even today) and reminds you, that even though women have achieved so much, we still have so much more potential.
To quote Taylor Swift: Fuck the patriarchy!
Very educational! A very important read especially in times like these. It was so interesting to me. A very empowering and inspiring read. It underlines how important feminism is (even today) and reminds you, that even though women have achieved so much, we still have so much more potential.
To quote Taylor Swift: Fuck the patriarchy!
Did Not Finish
April 14, 2026I really wanted to like this but had to dnf at a third in. Much of it was a feminist rant, and although ordinarily I'm more than up for a feminist rant, this was not the interesting non-fiction piece on the nature of gossip that I was looking for.
March 28, 2026
Incredible read. Every woman should have this book, each chapter really resonated, and I feel educated, inspired, outraged and empowered! 🩷
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews