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Daughters of Time
Look through fresh eyes at the stories of some of history's most remarkable women, in this inspiring collection of short stories by the finest female authors writing historical fiction for children today - The History Girls. Subjects Queen Boudicca, Aethelfled, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Julian of Norwich, Lady Jane Grey, Elizabeth Stuart, Aphra Behn, Mary Wollestonecraft, Mary Anning, Mary Seacole, Emily Davison, Amy Johnson and the Greenham Common women.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2014
6 people are currently reading
211 people want to read
About the author
Mary Hoffman
272 books592 followersSee also works published under Mary Lassiter
Mary Hoffman is a bestselling British author and reviewer, born in 1945. She is a true enthusiast of Italy and spends a lot of her time there, which shows in her Stravaganza novels: a series currently in publication. In total, she has written over 80 books, including the aforementioned Stravaganza series and the bestselling picture book, Amazing Grace. Mary is also the editor of a review magazine Armadillo for kids.
Watch the book trailer for David, Mary Hoffman's most recent novel
Mary Hoffman is a bestselling British author and reviewer, born in 1945. She is a true enthusiast of Italy and spends a lot of her time there, which shows in her Stravaganza novels: a series currently in publication. In total, she has written over 80 books, including the aforementioned Stravaganza series and the bestselling picture book, Amazing Grace. Mary is also the editor of a review magazine Armadillo for kids.
Watch the book trailer for David, Mary Hoffman's most recent novel
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 18, 2014
Daughters of Time is an anthology containing thirteen stories about extraordinary women throughout history, some you will have come across before but also more than a few who you've probably never even heard of before. After each story there is also a short note from the author explaining what inspired them followed by some true facts about the historical figure they wrote about.
I thought it would be nice to include a list of the stories here for you so you can see which famous characters you'll get to read about:
1. Tasca's Secret by Katherine Roberts (about Queen Boudicia)
2. The Lady of the Mercians by Sue Purkiss (about Athelflaed)
3. The Queen's Treasure by Adele Geras (about Eleanor of Aquitaine)
4. All Shall Be Well by Katherine Langrish (about Julian of Norwich)
5. Learn to Die by Mary Hoffman (about Lady Jane Grey)
6. The Phoenix Bride bu Dianne Hofmeyr (about Elizabeth Stuart)
7. A Night at the Theatre by Marie-Louise Jensen (about Aphra Behn)
8. An Unimportant Woman by Penny Dolan (about Mary Wollstonecraft)
9. Best After Storms by Joan Lennon (about Mary Anning)
10. The Lad that Stands Before You by Catherine Johnson (about Mary Seacole)
11. Return to Victoria by Celia Rees (about Emily Davidson)
12. The Colours of the Day by Anne Rooney (about Amy Johnson)
13. Please Can I Have a Life by Leslie Wilson (about The Greenham Common Women)
The anthology has stories ranging from approx c.30 AD right through until the 1980's so it really does span the ages. It's not often you come across such a variety in one book so I really enjoyed dipping in and out of the different eras that it covers. You'll find stories about warrior princesses and queens next to stories about famous female writers and campaigners for women's rights. Not to forget a pilot, a nurse and an archaeologist!
What I enjoyed most was getting to learn something about women who I'd never even heard of before, I'm definitely going to have to do some research now to find out more about them! Daughters of Time is a fab anthology for anyone who is interested in history, especially if you want to learn more about some of the women who have had a huge impact on society throughout the ages.
I thought it would be nice to include a list of the stories here for you so you can see which famous characters you'll get to read about:
1. Tasca's Secret by Katherine Roberts (about Queen Boudicia)
2. The Lady of the Mercians by Sue Purkiss (about Athelflaed)
3. The Queen's Treasure by Adele Geras (about Eleanor of Aquitaine)
4. All Shall Be Well by Katherine Langrish (about Julian of Norwich)
5. Learn to Die by Mary Hoffman (about Lady Jane Grey)
6. The Phoenix Bride bu Dianne Hofmeyr (about Elizabeth Stuart)
7. A Night at the Theatre by Marie-Louise Jensen (about Aphra Behn)
8. An Unimportant Woman by Penny Dolan (about Mary Wollstonecraft)
9. Best After Storms by Joan Lennon (about Mary Anning)
10. The Lad that Stands Before You by Catherine Johnson (about Mary Seacole)
11. Return to Victoria by Celia Rees (about Emily Davidson)
12. The Colours of the Day by Anne Rooney (about Amy Johnson)
13. Please Can I Have a Life by Leslie Wilson (about The Greenham Common Women)
The anthology has stories ranging from approx c.30 AD right through until the 1980's so it really does span the ages. It's not often you come across such a variety in one book so I really enjoyed dipping in and out of the different eras that it covers. You'll find stories about warrior princesses and queens next to stories about famous female writers and campaigners for women's rights. Not to forget a pilot, a nurse and an archaeologist!
What I enjoyed most was getting to learn something about women who I'd never even heard of before, I'm definitely going to have to do some research now to find out more about them! Daughters of Time is a fab anthology for anyone who is interested in history, especially if you want to learn more about some of the women who have had a huge impact on society throughout the ages.
February 23, 2014
Daughters of Time is a collection of 13 stories about important women throughout history. Each story comes with a note from the author has to why they picked that particular lady and additional information about them.
As expected some stories were more interesting than others. A Night at the Theatre, Best After Storms, The Lad That Stands Before You and Return to Victoria were my favourites. They were also the ones where I’d never heard of the women in question.
A few of the authors I’ve read previously but most were new to me, so that gives me a lot of catching up to do.
As you would expect with an anthology not every story will be for you. Some I felt the narration didn’t work as well as it could, strangely it was the stories were I knew the women in question that I enjoyed the least.
Daughters of Time is really interesting, I learned a lot and there are quite a few women I want to know more about. This anthology is certainly an inspiring read.
As expected some stories were more interesting than others. A Night at the Theatre, Best After Storms, The Lad That Stands Before You and Return to Victoria were my favourites. They were also the ones where I’d never heard of the women in question.
A few of the authors I’ve read previously but most were new to me, so that gives me a lot of catching up to do.
As you would expect with an anthology not every story will be for you. Some I felt the narration didn’t work as well as it could, strangely it was the stories were I knew the women in question that I enjoyed the least.
Daughters of Time is really interesting, I learned a lot and there are quite a few women I want to know more about. This anthology is certainly an inspiring read.
August 15, 2014
A nice little anthology to dip in and out of. It's nice as a talking point about the different women featured but I couldn't help but want more and therefore feel a little less keen on this book as a whole. That said I've never been a huge fan of anthologies or chapter samples for that reason
October 7, 2019
For me, some of the best bits of this book are the authors' explanations of why they chose their respective subjects; they write with real knowledge and enthusiasm about how particular women from history speak to them. There is only one exception to this: the opening story by Katherine Roberts, whose reasons for choosing Boudica are shallow and silly. This was the one story I really disliked. As I've been learning a lot about Boudica myself lately, I suppose I was either going to love it or hate it, and to me it seemed badly researched and not very well written.
After this, however, things started to pick up. I thought the next two stories were a high average, and then came a highlight with Katherine Langrish's story about Julian of Norwich (whom I had never heard of in my life). I felt that the stories were consistently very good after this, with Joan Lennon's contribution about Mary Anning being another highlight; the author really captures the character's great empathy and respect for the 'deep time' in which the fossilised creatures she found were living things. Celia Rees is a favourite historical fiction writer of mine, and I enjoyed her story about Emily Davison. Two stories follow this, and are both very good ones also; they are Anne Rooney's imagining of the last moments of Amy Johnson, and Leslie Wilson's story of a young girl joining the Greenham Common Women.
I like the way this book takes us chronologically through the first century AD all the way to the 1980s, with the gaps between eras getting smaller as more history was recorded and more women appeared in it. Each story and author note is followed by a brief factual passage about the subject, all very interesting and I believe accurate enough. For me, this book really does bring together all women in all times and make us feel part of the same world and the same journey. It's a shame it starts badly, but it picks up and then ends very well indeed, and as such I wouldn't feel justified in letting one story bring down my average. The collective efforts of most of these authors deserve four stars indeed.
After this, however, things started to pick up. I thought the next two stories were a high average, and then came a highlight with Katherine Langrish's story about Julian of Norwich (whom I had never heard of in my life). I felt that the stories were consistently very good after this, with Joan Lennon's contribution about Mary Anning being another highlight; the author really captures the character's great empathy and respect for the 'deep time' in which the fossilised creatures she found were living things. Celia Rees is a favourite historical fiction writer of mine, and I enjoyed her story about Emily Davison. Two stories follow this, and are both very good ones also; they are Anne Rooney's imagining of the last moments of Amy Johnson, and Leslie Wilson's story of a young girl joining the Greenham Common Women.
I like the way this book takes us chronologically through the first century AD all the way to the 1980s, with the gaps between eras getting smaller as more history was recorded and more women appeared in it. Each story and author note is followed by a brief factual passage about the subject, all very interesting and I believe accurate enough. For me, this book really does bring together all women in all times and make us feel part of the same world and the same journey. It's a shame it starts badly, but it picks up and then ends very well indeed, and as such I wouldn't feel justified in letting one story bring down my average. The collective efforts of most of these authors deserve four stars indeed.
March 17, 2014
I kept getting distracted a lot whilst reading this, and there were a couple of stories that I felt were a bit rushed or too short (I wanted more from them a lot of the time!) but the majority of them were really enjoyable. Great writing and it was really interesting to read about the stories of so many female historical figures I would never have read about otherwise! I think this is a really important anthology for anyone. I enjoyed it a lot, though it took me some time to finish.
February 10, 2016
A book of short fictional stories about real-life famous women through the ages.
Nice little 10 minute reads, just enough for a tea break!
I liked nearly all of the stories although a couple left a bit to be desired.
Nice little 10 minute reads, just enough for a tea break!
I liked nearly all of the stories although a couple left a bit to be desired.
February 18, 2017
One of the authors who is a member of the group who wrote this book, has written many books that I have enjoyed. So although she was not in this anthology, I looked forward to getting to it. I really enjoyed reading about different women from history, and learning more of the past.
September 14, 2014
Good concept, poor execution, the stories were very repetitive and very shallow.
January 22, 2016
Good young adult material. An engaging re-telling of the lives of some of history's memorable, if sometimes unsung, female heroines. I found the Emily Wilding-Davison narrative particularly good.
March 5, 2020
This is a collection of fictionalised short stories based on real life women to celebrate their achievements. Nice idea but the execution of it wasn't my favourite.
The issue is these stories are supposed to be about a well known woman/women but in most the main character, who we spend a large part of the already too short stories with, is just a fictional character who meets the woman. So it seems barely connected to the woman's actual life.
Also despite the claims that each writer was interested in the lady they wrote about some of the stories seem very dispassionate, as if they just wanted to list what that woman did within their few pages set to a slight story, some of which didnt make an awful lot of sense or have a plot, instead of pick a specific moment and expand the character to make them more relatable and easy to connect to so the reader actually wants to learn more about them.
My least favourite was actually the first, it seemed like a rush to get as much story as possible in without developing characters much and things just happened without any seen buildup, I imagine if it was longer the writer could've done much more with the story they clearly had in mind. My favourite was the Phoenix bride, which was deliberately set out around a few years, easily separated and seemed the most well rounded as a story.
The issue is these stories are supposed to be about a well known woman/women but in most the main character, who we spend a large part of the already too short stories with, is just a fictional character who meets the woman. So it seems barely connected to the woman's actual life.
Also despite the claims that each writer was interested in the lady they wrote about some of the stories seem very dispassionate, as if they just wanted to list what that woman did within their few pages set to a slight story, some of which didnt make an awful lot of sense or have a plot, instead of pick a specific moment and expand the character to make them more relatable and easy to connect to so the reader actually wants to learn more about them.
My least favourite was actually the first, it seemed like a rush to get as much story as possible in without developing characters much and things just happened without any seen buildup, I imagine if it was longer the writer could've done much more with the story they clearly had in mind. My favourite was the Phoenix bride, which was deliberately set out around a few years, easily separated and seemed the most well rounded as a story.
December 14, 2020
The only the reason that I didn’t give this 5 stars is because I do wish the stories were longer for each woman. The historical women were fascinating. The real history buffs will be enthused to learn more about these awesome woman & the rest of their stories.
September 5, 2021
A fantastic collection of stories about amazing women you’ve probably never heard of! I loved hearing about their stories, and the way they’d been expanded by the authors was wonderful. My only issue is I wish each were longer!
October 24, 2019
Teaching-like.
September 6, 2019
One that I bought for my daughters a few years back, they didn't really engage with it to be honest - I'm not sure if it was given a chance! As a bit of a history nerd, in need of a light read, I thought I'd give it a read myself. I liked the concept - a series of short stories highlighting women in history, the actual stories were generally OK but only one or two really grabbed my attention.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews