Fenwomen: A Portrait of Women in an English Village

by Mary Chamberlain

256 pages, Paperback

Published September 11, 2025

About the author

Mary Chamberlain is a novelist and historian. Her book Fenwomen: a portrait of women in an English village was the first book to be published by Virago Press in 1975. Since then, she has published six other works of history, and edited a further five. Her first novel, The Mighty Jester was published by Dr. Cicero Books in the US. Her British debut novel, The Dressmaker of Dachau was published by HarperCollins in the UK and, under the title The Dressmaker's War, by Random House in the USA. In all, it sold to 19 countries and was an international best-seller. Her novel, The Hidden, was published by Oneworld Publications in February 2019. The Sunday Times listed it as their MUST READ choice of the best recent books in February 2019. This was followed by, The Forgotten, 2021 and The Lie, 2023 both published by Oneworld. A special 50th anniversary edition of Fenowmen will be published by Virago in September 2025 as part of their Virago Modern Classics, with a new introduction by Alexandra Harris and a cover design by Eleanor Rose.

Reviews

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating oral histories of the women of the Fens. What a great project, recording these ordinary lives at that point in time. Stretching way back to women’s recollections of the late Victorian era. Their relationships, work, hopes and dreams. Captured the 1970s in the Fens in all its limited fullness. I learned about gleaning and much more besides. I felt saddened by the lack of fulfilment some of these women experienced, especially the young woman who passed the exams for the grammar school but her mother couldn’t afford to send her on the bus. Heartbroken for her.

[Lisa of Hopewell]

I learned of this book via this post: https://shereadsnovels.com/2025/11/26...