Things a Bright Girl Can Do: The critically acclaimed novel about the fight for women's votes

by Sally Nicholls

Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2019, National Book Award, Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards and the YA Book PrizeIncludes an exclusive preview of The Silent Stars Go By by Sally NichollsThrough rallies and marches, in polite drawing rooms and freezing prison cells and the poverty-stricken slums of the East End, three courageous young women join the fight for the vote.Evelyn is seventeen, and though she is rich and clever, she may never be allowed to follow her older brother to university. Enraged that she is expected to marry her childhood sweetheart rather than be educated, she joins the Suffragettes, and vows to pay the ultimate price for women's freedom.May is fifteen, and already sworn to the cause, though she and her fellow Suffragists refuse violence. When she meets Nell, a girl who's grown up in hardship, she sees a kindred spirit. Together and in love, the two girls start to dream of a world where all kinds of women have their place.But the fight for freedom will challenge Evelyn, May and Nell more than they ever could believe. As war looms, just how much are they willing to sacrifice?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Feminism, LGBT, Historical, Fiction, Queer

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2017

About the author

Sally Nicholls is a prize-winning British children's author. She was born and grew up in Stockton-on-Tees. On finishing school, Nicholls chose to travel around the world. Her first novel was Ways to Live Forever.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I can't know that something is possible, and sit back and not do anything to make it real."

Spoiler free Review!

So I really, really enjoyed this! There are a few aspects that threw me off a bit hence why it's not 5 stars but a good 4 star read!

The story is about 3 different people in the process of trying to get the vote for women, both and a suffragette and suffragist way. It showed you the insides of what went on and there were so many references. I mean it even mentioned Boudica! You get the sense of belonging and how they all unite together makes me so proud to be a woman, and I'd like to believe that I would of done what all the women did back then. Not only do we get the suffrage movement but what it was like when the war was happening and how difficult families found it.

Evelyn is wanting the vote to be treated as an equal, her brother has a lot of opportunities that are given to him simply because he is male. Evelyn wants to go to University and broaden her knowledge, she wants more from her life than being a wife/mum. Along with Evelyn we get Teddy, I honestly didn't know what to expect from him as a character, I'll be honest he wasn't my favourite I had the sense that he was doing things simply because Evelyn wanted to. However it was amazing to see the two progress and that he always told her how he felt and even if he didn't agree with everything he was still there just to show some form of support. I was SO proud of Evelyn throughout the book, she progressed so much, when we first see her, it seems she does things to spite her family because they're not allowing her to do the things she wants, but some things happen and I was just so amazed at how brave she was in some situations! How understanding she became, and how supportive she is with Teddy made my heart melt.

Then we have May and Nell. When we first meet the two we know that Nell doesn't "fit the norm" but her character is SO much more. At the time transgender wasn't a known thing and theres some clear signs that Nell is coming to terms with not fitting into her "gender roles" with how she is supposed to act and dress. Nell had a lot of shit thrown her way, her family were working class people and were so affected by war, they had to live in a two bed flat between eight of them, she had to receive clothes from her older brother and it was heartbreaking what she had to go through at some points. It was difficult to see how much she struggled with trying to get a job, and then when they realised she wasn't a boy got so much abuse, it was so upsetting to read. In fact a lot about Nells life is sad, there's some lovely moments between Nell and May which brought some light to her life. May was 100000000% my favourite character, her mother taught her a lot of things and sometimes she was ridiculously stubborn even if deep down she knew she was wrong. I liked that we saw her realise that she's not always right. However when we see her explain certain things in relation to her not agreeing with war, and how to handle things in relation to the suffrage movements I was thinking... you are my spirit animal. She's so optimistic and it was just nice to see.

What I liked?
- Please please don't take this out of context, there was a moment of Racism towards a German woman but the representation and how things were dealt with were just SO touching. I loved how some people reacted to this. They showed support towards the person receiving such hatred, and it just shows that some people really do care.
- Evelyn at a certain time and how she handled things.
- The fact that things weren't romanticised
- The way in which it was wrote respected the era it was set.
- MAY!

What I didn't like?
- The ending was so anti-climatic. We all know how this turns out (YAY) but I just don't think I appreciated how they all dealt with it, and I don't even know how Evelyn reacted which was a shame.

Overall, I really did enjoy this book, it brings light to what happened all those years ago, it makes you feel proud and empowered to be a woman, it shows that just because you are different you can unite for a cause that matters. However I was disappointed with the ending, I just wanted something more.

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down the best book I've read this year and probably the best book I'm going to read this year.

So much I adored about it. Suffragettes, the social history of the various classes within Edwardian society, the impact of WW1 at home, the fascinating snippets of historical nerdery making it feel so authentic.

My inner history geek is in love with this book.

SO SO SO SO GOOD!!

[kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* Things A Bright Girl Can Do had a cast of characters and writing style I instantly warmed to. I loved that so many different aspects of life during this time were explored through three characters, who experiences were so different. I especially loved the f/f relationship and the exploration of PTSD and feminism. However, I just wanted a little bit more from it. I wanted to know about what it was like to be a young suffragette, what it was like for people of different classes and sexualities and genders. It also seemingly totally forgot about the WOC in the suffragettes and the added struggles they had to face. It featured an f/f relationship between two of the main characters (although one of whom read as possibly questioning their gender at times?) which I thought was great but I just wanted more. I almost wish this had been two different books, one following Evelyn and another following May and Nell. With all the being said, this was definitely an enjoyable read and an interesting one, I just wanted a little more depth as I always love learning more about this time period.

TW:
• homophobic language and undertones. although this was in keeping with the time period and not in a malicious way but in a way that most definitely comes across as internalised homophobia, I can definitely see it being hard and potentially triggering to read.
• PTSD & Flashbacks

[Avery Delany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 stars - N/B = to all the people proclaiming this to be a book with "two gay suffragettes!!!" please read this review to consider a reading of Nell as a trans character, by a trans person.

Things a Bright Girl Can Do is a brilliant and enjoyable book which gives 3 young people's perspectives on the suffrage movement and World War 1. We follow Evelyn, an upper-middle-class girl who becomes torn between her desire for suffrage, education and sweetheart Teddy; middle-class pacifist Quaker May for whom there is no question of suffrage being the most important thing in the entire world; and working-class Nell, struggling to help keep her large family afloat as the war hits them the hardest and with men withholding jobs from women who "dress like boys". Just to put it out there, I absolutely LOVE historical fiction books like this which present history in a dynamic, accessible and enjoyable format. It felt so refreshing to read a fiction book which dealt with these issues, especially one that actually does things like clearly differentiates between the suffragists and the suffragettes, includes poor women, and has an LGBTQ romance! Sadly, as others have pointed out, TABGCD is completely missing any reference to women of colour, who have been entirely erased from the suffrage movement .

As a working-class person who identified so hard with Nell, it is perhaps unsurprising that I found her to be the best character of the book and there were times when I became frustrated with how often her story became sidetracked by a, frankly quite irritating, romance with May (my least favourite character by far). While I felt that May's character offered some interesting perspectives on suffrage and war from a pacifist Quaker pov, her character was wholly unlikeable, grandiose, immature and sanctimonious to the point of distraction. And although I did enjoy Evelyn's character a lot in the beginning, as her story moved away from suffrage, education and family towards an out and out romance with her best friend, Teddy, I became quite bored with Evelyn's character development towards the end of the book. However, I did think it was valuable to have multiple perspectives on and approaches to the events of 1914-1918 across the different classes. Having said that though, I felt that particular characters and storylines could really have been deepened to give a better look at the socioeconomic and political lives of the time, and I wish that the end of the book did not feel so rushed.

On the topic of Nell and gender, I have a lot to say about this because I think that there has been a total misreading of Nell's character (in my opinion). As a trans person, Nell's experiences and feelings towards her gender identity absolutely scream of Nell being trans too, and I find it frustrating that this hasn't been spoken about very much, instead, Nell and May's romance is being portrayed as "gay suffragette's". Why do I think this? Well, I feel that there are some clear indications at points throughout the book from her attitude towards clothes, symptoms of gender dysphoria, and other people's reactions towards her androgyny in a way that is different from other masculine fictional women, for example, Kay in Sarah Water's The Night Watch.

Here are some of the most prominent examples, but there are many more littered through the entire book:

"'I dunno, she said briefly. Cos I looks such a guy in petticoats.'
May sensed a lie, sensed the wall and retreated. Then, cautiously, she said 'Mama has a friend who dresses like you. I mean, she wears her hair short, you know, and all her friends call her Cyril... What would you call yourself if you could?'"

The above quote occurs about a third of the way through the book. Already I had been getting trans vibes from Nell, and to see it laid out so plainly made me really excited about her character development.

"If Nell had been the boy she sometimes thought she ought to have been, she would have treated May".

The use of ought to have been here, I think, speaks strongly of Nell's feelings of gender dysphoria which she continuously displays throughout the book.

"Other girls, mostly, didn't much like Nell either; she wasn't quite a girl and she wasn't quite a boy, and that made them wary and a little contemptuous... Other girls felt like a different species to Nell. She'd decided as a child that she wasn't one of them, and as an adult that feeling had only grown".

"'Look here, I ain't being funny, but you know this is the girls' dorm, right?... And then, 'I ain't trying to cause offence, right, but what are you? Peggy sez you're a girl, but you ain't, are you?'"

Like many other trans people, this is a conversation that I have had countless times throughout my life and is just one example of many of the way that other people interact with Nell on account of her gender presentation.

Whilst it could, of course, be that Nell is just a masculine woman, and that is absolutely fine, I just feel that these experiences so clearly mimic experiences of trans people that, in my mind, Nell is definitely a trans character. Naturally, everyone is entitled to their own opinions about this but I would urge other readers to at least consider this to be an option rather than a total erasure of these experiences in Nell's story.

Overall, I did really enjoy Things a Bright Girl Can Do, and felt that with some minor improvements this book could definitely have received 4 stars from me! It's well-written, observant, critical, witty, and makes some excellent comments on suffrage and the war through the very enjoyable medium of YA fiction.

[Robin Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hurrah for Sally! This is a really lovely and engrossing novel about three girls caught up in the Suffragette movement and WW1. Basically, it's Sarah Waters for teens - pitch-perfect, historically accurate, very romantic and a jolly good read. 14+

*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. Please do not use it in any marketing material, online or in print, without asking permission from me first. Thank you!*

[Stella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. Written in a fluffy way that seems to trivialise the suffragette movement, I persevered as far as page 115 til I gave up. I don’t like the characters and don’t care what happens to them. I’ve wasted enough time on this book and wish I’d got it from the library instead of spending good money on it!

[Cora Tea Party Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 Words: And she bloody loved it.

Full review to come.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!

I was so excited to read this book because any time a book considered even slightly feminist is released I know I need to get my hands on it. Luckily I managed to get my hands on an advanced copy and this book was even more than I hoped it would be. It is passionate, honest, emotional and exhilarating.

Taking us all the way back to the 1910’s, Things A Bright Girl Can Do is everything that I expect from a historical fiction novel with the exception that I found it much easier to read than most. It was really informative about the Suffragette movement and the War without containing paragraph upon paragraph of information. It is very much a character driven novel and I really enjoyed seeing the situation from three rather different points of view.

Evelyn was a really interesting character and certainly one that I imagine I would have related to in some ways if I were born in those times. She is really ambitious and absolutely angered by the fact that, as a woman, she is not expected to go onto University or to get herself a better education. There were some particularly passionate bits of dialogue in Evelyn’s chapters that really fuelled the passionate feminist in me. It was also interesting to read her POV because of her beloved Teddy and it was nice to see that this book took into account the many men who were supportive of women fighting for their right to vote. There were certainly parts of Evelyn’s journey that made me feel quite emotional and she certainly sacrificed a lot at a young age, as many of our ancestors did.

May was the character I probably related to the least in a personal way. She comes from a well off background and some of her views were a little frustrating to me. On the other hand I absolutely loved that she was passionate about the right to vote but that she did call into question (alongside her mother) some of the more violent actions of the Suffragettes. May is quite a light hearted and loving young lady who is full of passion and it was really refreshing to see her part in the lesbian relationship of the book and her views on her sexuality.

Nell was definitely my favourite of the girls. She was in absolutely no way your stereotypical ‘girl’ – she dressed more like a boy, acted more like a boy and as a result had basically made herself an outcast from her part of society. It was nice to read the POV of a character coming from a much lower social class than the other two girls because it made everything feel even more real. The affects of the War on Nell’s family were devastating and it really made my heart ache knowing that this happened to so, so many families. Nell is incredibly fiery, passionate, protective and driven. I just loved how far she would go to help support her family, no matter the cost. Some of my favourite dialogue was between Nell and May, especially when Nell would get so frustrated at May’s lack of ability to understand her own view point and situation.

All in all I really loved the three girls as I thought they all brought something unique to the table. I was really glad that each of the girls were different and gave me different ways to view how things were as it was really thought provoking. It was great to get an insight into the different ways in which women fought for suffrage and also the consequences of those actions.

Aside from suffrage, this book had great diversity threaded through it and its many themes. There was love aplenty but I was happy to see a f/f relationship and the discussion that it opened about sexuality. I was incredibly happy that the girls were from different social classes and that it was so apparent how this affected their views on different things. Nell, being from a lower social class, had very little to lose and would throw herself whole heartedly into the action whereas someone like May, who came from a higher social class, wouldn’t dream of being involved in the violence. It added a really interesting element for me.

I absolutely love coming away from a book and knowing that it has taught me something and that is definitely how I felt after I put down Things A Bright Girl Can Do. It was really thought provoking and evoked a lot of emotions within me. Mostly I am absolutely and completely grateful to all those women who fought for suffrage in such times, without them where would we be today?

A huge thank you to Harriet at Andersen Press for my advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[sambk · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of last year I was studying civil rights in America from 1865-1992 and one of the topics was gender equality so I can tell you so many different statistics on the position of women through that period. This book put those statistics and matched them with faces. It gave me a perspective on the fight for votes in the UK when although it wasn’t what I had studied last year, it was still the same ball game, all the same inequality and double standards that I had learnt about (and had literally ranted about to my mum every time I was either revising or just happened to think about it-thanks mum for listening and getting angry with me lysm). This book gives an insight into the fight for the vote that you can’t get from learning the statistics of how many people were involved or how many women were unable to work. It reminds you that all of the things that happened, happened to families and in some instances, they shattered them but in others it made them stronger.
On the back of the book there is a quote taken from the Times that says “Nicholls has brought alive the young women of the past to empower the next generation” which I completely agree with. When speaking about a topic that has not only changed history but has also influences so many different women’s lives over the past 100 years, it does empower the women of our generation. As a reader, when you compare how people were living only 100 years ago you do see how far the world has come, how much women have accomplished. But it also makes us realise that there are sexual inequalities in the world still but like women did 100 years ago in so many countries across the world and what they remind us with their history that there is nothing that a woman cannot accomplish. I think that’s the underlying real message of this book, not only to educate us on what happened but to remind us that there is nothing that can’t be changed if you have the courage to do so. God look at me trying to be really deep and meaningful with my post, but it’s honestly how I feel and there is so much I could say about this book! I just hope that all of my thoughts can come off coherently.
Here’s a bit about this phenomenal book;
The year is 1914. The campaign for the vote for women shakes the core of England, the demands from each Women’s group echo through each chartered street of England and three young ladies each hear it the most. It calls to them in the night. It causes them to get up from their different backgrounds and take action. Evelyn should have more open doors than most women for she is rich and clever but still she cannot go to university -this single inequality is that causes her to demand things to be “fair”. She embarks on a personal conquest for her own liberation of the shackles trapping her and stopping her from claiming the life she wants but that small personal quest becomes one with the magnitude of women on a mission. Two of those are May and Nell. Although they are different in principle, they find more similarities in each other than they have with any other, and they find love in each others arms. But their differences threaten to get in the way of their joint dream for Nell is from a working background and May lives with her single mother and their maid in a proper area in proper London. When war comes calling these three lives change course, everything they knew and love is questioned and tests occur to see just how much the Women of England will sacrifice for the vote.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book was just how raw it was. There was no sugar coating of what had happened to women or the aftermath of the quest for the vote or the war. There wasn’t any sugar coating of the actual movements of the women either -the things that they did, especially the Suffragettes who did do extreme things like smashing windows and doing violent things to gather attention. What I liked most about this book was just how accurate it was -of course you can’t be completely accurate when you are writing a nonfiction book based on real events but it was refreshing how close it was to the truth. Nicholls uses real events to influence the women in this book like the March on Buckingham palace, it makes this book all the more better at showing what it was like back then and the courage it must have taken to stand up against the “mans world” that has told them to stay down all along. It was shown through her characters who each went to the march and it was all shown in the differences between the characters. Nell was an advocate for using violence in defence while May was a pacifist. Despite their differences Nicholls was able to use to their relationship as an extended metaphor for the actual movement in general -while there were divisions in the ways in which to bring about change at the end of it, it was all for the same changes. The way that Nicholls was able to do this really made me enjoy the book more just as it gave a more whole view of the movement in general.

There were things which occurred in this book that were actually very true to the movement. For instance, Evelyn goes into prison and completes a hunger strike. The details of that ordeal were horrible to read but they were something that I needed to read because women did that all the time just so that we could have the vote -a self-sacrifice just as Emily Davison scarified herself for the movement. It made me remind myself just how important it is for me to vote. I’m eighteen and so the last local election in my city, I was right there voting and it still made me proud and just grateful. Because of their actions I can vote when there are still so many who can’t. Then also the sacrifices that Nell has to go through, required to work in order to help her mother with money, having to give away her childhood to work in factories.
Like any story based in our world, love is usually involved and this book is not the exception. The love in this book was beautiful in my opinion, it captured everything that I love about love and for once I was living for it (instead of hating every single park of it and cringing like hell). In this book Nell and May fall in love and it was wonderful to see two young girls, one of them experienced in the knowledge of lesbianism while a second not so. But they learn together in a sense. They were adorable. I loved them both individually and together.
The relationship between Teddy and Evelyn was finally what I had been looking for in a book. It was full of support and love and commitment. Teddy supports Evelyn through everything that she goes through with the movement. He’s there when she gets arrested (when he asked her not to do it because he knew what would happen) and he was there with her at the march on Buckingham, he was there for her when she came out of the prison after her hunger strike and supported her education when neither her mother nor her father did. The thing with Teddy that made him such a good representation of what the feminist man is like, is that even though he didn’t always agree with what Evelyn was going to do for the vote, he was still there to support her. He was just wonderful. And from him we were able to learn more about the war and the front through his letters to Evelyn. The thing about love, something that I’ve always thought at least is that you are supposed to feel completely home with that person… that’s how Evelyn felt with Teddy and that’s why I adored it.
The war wasn’t so much a massive part of the book in the fact that we weren’t having scenes about the battles from any one’s perspective, it was all the affects that the war was having on the home front. All of the workers, all of the people, all of the women who were having to be not only the “breadwinner” but be the mother at home. This book really highlights the efforts of the women and the struggles they had to face, because out on the battle field wasn’t the only place of a war going on. It affected the soldiers as much as it affected the people back home and yet the struggled of those left behind are almost forgotten or limited in comparison in history but explored by Nicholls
Overall, everyone should read this book. It’s a book that I feel needs to be read but it also deserves to be read. Its beautifully written. Its empowering and it reminds us just how far we have come and yet just how many things we also need to ask on to achieve full equality.
Thank you all for readingxxxx

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5
This was rather splendid. A treat of an account of the Suffragette movement, the build up to WW1 and its consequences on ordinary people.
The three protagonists all convey different sides of British society at the time united by the cause of gaining votes for women. It follows the war period from it's onset in 1914 to the suffrage vote of 2018. I loved how the book did not skirt at all on socialism, suffrage, internationalism vs war effort and admired the way the three protagonists Evelyn, May and Nell all represented a very strong position in each facet of the political spectrum and how the interactions with each other and the war ended up both strengthening and changing their perspective. The parallel love stories were lovely and punctuated both the politics of each character and the larger war narrative and were both done very realistically.
The description of the marches, the excitement, the feeling of being part of something big and beautiful particularly resonated with me as I was rather militant in my teenage/young adult years and the writer conveyed it so very well.
Her accounts of war times were also very realistically rendered; with the exception that her focus is Britain and I grew up in Rome her descriptions, especially of Nell's family struggles, matched exactly the stories told by my grandmother who had several brothers in the war and was left to fend for herself at home with a gaggle of siblings and was also quite involved in the international socialist movement.
All in all this was an excellent read and I highly recommend it

[Read Me Another Story · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story📖

This story has three main protagonists, 17 year old Evelyn who is expected to marry her childhood sweetheart imminently, May who is 15 years old and meet 15 year old Nell at a suffragette March and falls in love with her.

The story starts in 1914 as the First World War is starting and the suffragettes are still fighting for women’s rights.

This tells a story of a young girl’s oppression from three very different perspectives. A young girl wanting the right to further education, a free thinking young girl who is struggling with her sexuality and another that is really thinking if their own gender identity all set to the backdrop of a shifting time in history.

Summary 📖

I LOVED this young adult book. I picked it up based on the recommendation of the team @constantreaderbookshop and I am so glad I did. Such a fantastically, well written novel.

Suggestion 📖

For anyone that loves historical fiction with a clear, progressive message and shows that women have not always had the rights that they have now. Such a great read.
📖

[Rikke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A historical YA-novel set during the First World War, following three young Suffragettes fighting for their right to vote? Yes please! 🖤
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Things a Bright Girl Can Do is a colourful, dramatic and historically correct novel about love, war, sexuality, friendships, growing up – and, above all, fighting for women's rights. ⠀
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I found this book to be witty as well as educating; highlighting social differences, contrasting how the upper class reacted to Suffragettes in comparison to the working class. I'll definitely recommend this one!⠀
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[Nav (she/her) 🌧 · Rating 5 out of 5]

As soon as I read the blurb for this book I just knew I had to read the book!

Things a Bright Girl Can Do begins in 1914 and follows the lives of three young girls, Evelyn, May and Nell.

I love how different all three of these girls are and that really helped to show just how difficult life was for ALL girls/women not just those who weren't well off.

Evelyn
Evelyn is the first character that we are introduced to. She is 17 years old and from a privileged background. However, despite her lifestyle she will probably not be allowed to attend University (this would have been the same situation many girls from a similar background to Evelyn would have also been in).

I really liked Evelyn. I liked how she wanted to continue her education and wanted more out of life.

May
May lives in one of the most respectable streets in the East End of London with her mother and they are pretty well off. I really liked how passionate May is about equal rights for women but out of all three girls May was the one that I connected to the least.

Nell
I really liked Nell and found her so relatable! I liked how different she was from the other two girls and as a reader we were able to gain a completely different insight into what life was like for girls/women before and during the war.

Reading about how Nell and her family struggled when war was declared was just heartbreaking.

Moving away from the main characters, the book in general really made me think about what life must have been like for people during the war. I feel I have gained not just an insight into life during that time but also so much knowledge as well.

From just it not being considered normal for girls to go to University to how ladies were given extra time behind bars if they tried to speak up and defend themselves in court.

To conclude, I absolutely loved reading Things a Bright Girl Can Do! I honestly cannot recommend this book enough!

[CanadianReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

“doing the right thing was a lot more complicated than she thought it was, and she wasn’t at all sure that she liked it.”

Nicholls has written a decent piece of historical fiction to familiarize a young adult audience with the suffragette movement and the experiences of women during World War I. She’s clearly done her research, and it sometimes shows a little too much. (The reader is quickly made aware of the distinction between the milder suffragists, led by Millicent Fawcett, and the militant suffragettes, led by Sylvia Pankhurst. In the course of the book, many other unions and pacifist organizations run by ardent, committed women are introduced. “Actions”, demonstrations, and hunger strikes are also described.) Even though these historical details aren’t always as seamlessly integrated into the narrative as they might be, Things a Bright Girl Can Do still makes for more entertaining reading than the sometimes dry nonfiction texts available on the subject.

Nicholls’s novel, set in London, covers a four-year period—from February, 1914 to February, 1918 (when “The Representation of The People Act”, which gave voting rights to a limited group of women, was passed by British parliament). The book presents the experiences of three young women of different classes and dispositions. The three become involved in the suffrage movement for different reasons. One, Evelyn Collis, is seventeen and from a solidly middle-class background. Expected to marry her childhood friend (Teddy), become a mother, and keep house, Evelyn is a clever and idealistic girl who wants to attend Oxford (like her brother) and to live a life of purpose. A second girl, Nell, is a cross-dressing, fifteen-year-old, factory girl from a large, noisy family. Her family’s poverty and her own employment in a sweatshop at half a man’s pay, as well as a naturally pugnacious temperament, drive her to attend suffrage meetings. She falls in love with May Thornton, another fifteen-year-old, the free-spirited, progressive daughter of a widowed mother who is a vegetarian, socialist, pacifist, Quaker, suffragist, and a few other things besides. (I can’t say I found Nell and May’s relationship very convincingly portrayed. Too much modern frankness and tolerance about sexual matters seeps into the narrative about the love affair.)

The chapters are short, shifting from one character to another with relative ease. Narration is omniscient. Although this is a big book (over 400 pages), it reads quickly—increasingly so as the war progresses and the girls mature. The writing is competent, and there’s an effort to incorporate some of the idiomatic speech of the day. (Having said that, I’ll admit that I burned out on the overuse of “frightfully” and “old man”, occasionally feeling as though I’d passed through some portal into a P. G. Wodehouse novel). Characterization is not a strength. I wasn’t as engaged by the stories of the three girls as I thought I’d be, though Evelyn’s situation became more absorbing as the war added complications to her relationship with Teddy. I particularly dreaded Nell’s scenes; she never quite made it beyond caricature. In a more capable writer’s hands, her story might have stolen the show. I was mostly just indifferent to May. It’s possible that in attempting to tell the stories of three girls, Nicholls diluted the potential emotional power of the novel.

Evelyn’s story is based in part on Vera Britain’s Testament of Youth, which is a more moving work by far than Nicholls’s novel. Nell’s sections are apparently derived from Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness, and May’s narrative is informed by Ann Wiltsher’s Most Dangerous Women: Feminist Peace Campaigners of the Great War. While I was somewhat disappointed by the novel, I’ll allow that it succeeds in giving girls today an idea of women’s lot during World War, as well as a sense of what it may have been part of the fight for a more independent, free, and stimulating life.

[Ekaterina Ulitina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Очень понравилось: порекомендую и маме, и сестре-подростку.

Я, как оказалось, не так уж много знала о суфражистках и о том, как зарождалось движение за права женщин. Книга даёт очень объемную картинку этого движения – с точек зрения разных его ответвлений, в разных контекстах (в мирное время и во время Первой Мировой войны, в Лондоне аристократии, среднего и рабочего классов) и от лица трёх разных рассказчиц. Читается легко и приятно даже на сложных поворотах. Подкупило, как героини тут и там сомневаются: правильными ли методами они продвигаются вперёд, оправдывает ли их цель средства и так далее. Все как в сегодняшнем феминизме думающих людей.

Конец наступил как будто слишком быстро, и никакого «героического» окончания истории не было ни у одной из трёх героинь. Но и так бывает, верно? После ярких событий иногда случается и затягивается обыкновенная жизнь.

[Olivia Boddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️
I expected a lot more from this book, and while I enjoyed the concept, I felt I was only interested in reading about Evelyn’s life. I can appreciate the storyline for both May and Nell and I also feel it is necessary to include these in the book, but I felt they were messy and not at all interesting. The start of the book was extremely fast paced and I enjoyed that a lot, yet it gradually became less interested and I honestly just wanted to see how it ended.

I love the suffragettes and expected to learn a lot more about it, and while I liked that it focused on the struggles of women from 1914, it was not what I was expecting to read.

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three young women from very different backgrounds, just before and during WWI, embrace suffragism, and how each identifies with and is changed by having a cause. A vivid look at how life in early 20th century London varied for families of the working, middle, and upper-middle class.

[Rebecca (StayingUpTillMorning) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first thought after finishing this book was how I wish it had been around when I was studying History aged 15/16. My school barely touched on women’s suffrage and instead barrelled straight on in to WW1 and the experience of soldiers and the government. We didn’t learn about what happened to the wives and sisters and children left to fend for themselves, without a man’s wage to pay for food or coal or medicine.

But now at least we have this wonderful book to give us an insight into the lives of women during this time. The author, Sally Nicholls, says at the end of the book that most of the suffrage scenes are based on real events (she’s just changed the dates a little). So you can read knowing that these things did happen. Or like me, stop to google every few chapters because you need to know more!

Things A Bright Girl Can Do is divided in to seven parts. The first part is set in February 1914 and the last part is February 1918 and is told from the perspectives of three teenage girls. There’s Evelyn, who is upper class and who wants to go to University like her brother. May, who’s a Quaker, and doesn’t believe in violence or killing even when Britain is at war. And finally Nell, who lives in just two rooms with her whole family.

There’s a sweetly written romance between May and Nell which is particularly endearing because Nell always thought she was alone in the way she felt. Fortunately she meets May at a meeting and is introduced to a whole new world. May reveals that “heaps of the suffragist ladies are in love with each other” to a shocked Nell.

Of course the romance is really the only light in a book filled with injustices, violence, a hunger strike and illness. But all three characters grow and mature and learn from the hardships they experience. I especially liked seeing Evelyn go from being a girl uncertain about what it is she’s fighting for to being a young woman who stands up to her father and clearly explains why she wants the vote and the right to be educated.

One of the real highlights of this book though were the quick retorts the suffragettes had for the arrogant men and boys shouting things at them. One man had the nerve to tell Evelyn that “giving women the vote would be a disaster, because one week out of four, women were biologically incapable of rational thought”. Luckily Evelyn isn’t dim and retorts that “that meant three weeks out of every four they were capable, which was more than could be said for men”. Ha! I chuckled for a good long time at that I swear.

Another tells a group of suffragettes that men go to war and die for their country, women don’t, so why should they get a vote? A certain fantastic Miss Wilkinson knows exactly what to say back though and tells him that women risk their lives every time they bring a child into the world. Which is a damn good point! And trust me when I say many more damn good points are made throughout this book!

Overall Things A Bright Girl Can Do is an empowering and thought provoking book that will introduce a whole new generation to the women’s suffrage movement. And hopefully it will spark an interest that will last a lifetime and will see us continuing to honour the women who sacrificed so much so that we, today, can choose to live our lives however we would like.

More Reviews At: stayinguptillmorning.wordpress.com

[Katie.dorny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a ya novel that dealt with some serious topics in an incredible writing style that I really enjoyed. It was also lovely reading about queer woman, and it being normalised during this time - that did warm my heart.

The topics regarding war, youth and all the pains of growing up were dealt with delicately but nothing we ever shied away from.

Some of the conversations and character choices (looking at you in particular May) were very childish and infuriating at times as it let the rest of the novel and the other character arcs they supported down.

Overall this was enjoying but nothing special.

[charlotte, · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rep: lesbian mcs, side character with PTSD

CWs: police brutality

[Eva Lavrikova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nečakaný literárny zážitok, ktorý, hoci ho vnímam v prvom rade ako oddychovku zasadenú do obdobia prvej svetovej, si neuprie dôkladný ponor do dobového boja sufražetiek o práva žien, holosexuálnych (resp. lesbických) vzťahov a reality prvej svetovej.
Dostala som viac, než som čakala.

[Kate (Reading Through Infinity) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.
I enjoyed the LBGTQIA+ romance in this novel and the focus on three young women protagonists growing up in WWI Britain, but I just wanted a little more of everything. More of the jobs women did during the war, more of the gay community events that some women attended, more of the hardships and intensity that came with being a suffragette.

[Christien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thus far, probably my favourte YA-novel I've read thus far. The characters are absolutely delightful and it's so nice to read a novel where queerness is just accepted. Also, the historical context is great.

[lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

things a bright girl can do is a historical fiction novel set between the years 1914-1918. it follows three young women who all join the suffrage movement, fighting to win women the right to vote. they are each completely different girls who each join for completely different reasons, but are united in their shared dream to have a life of purpose and fulfilment.

the book did an amazing job of familiarising me with the suffragette movement and the lead up to the great war. it gave me a sense of what it may have been to be part of the fight for an independent and free life, and also provided a much needed insight into the part women played in the war. however, overall i was simply hoping for a little more from it.

the emotional power of the novel never really it the mark. this may have been due to the multiple perspectives, because it often felt that the author had to dilute the story slightly to make room for everyone's story. the book was still very impactful, but just not at the level i was hoping for. i also felt that too much of the focus was on the war rather than on the suffragette movement. i realise that this is how things were historically, but the fact that the book focused so much on the war took away a lot of the impact on women's rights it was meant to have. the suffragette theme was lost halfway through and didn't seem to be found again, which was incredibly frustrating because it was very strong in the first portion of the book.

but although this book wasn't perfect, it was a book that was needed. books following the suffragette movement intended for young adults are severely lacking, and i am very glad i read this. it was extremely informative without ever feeling too dense or ever info-dumping. reading about this movement was utterly inspiring and very powerful, even though i had a few complaints. it was informative, it made me think, and it made me very grateful to all these women for fighting this battle for us. it was crazy to read this book as a girl living in 2019, knowing that the level of injustice women faced in this book was accepted as the norm. though, it was also incredibly inspiring to recognise just the amount of change that has occurred over the past hundred years, and made me genuinely hopeful for a future society where men and women may have complete and total equality.

the characters were likeable enough, but weren't anything special for me. two of the main characters never interacted with the other main character, which was a little odd and i felt the story would have benefited if their stories had somehow intertwined. neither storyline felt like it was done full justice and often felt like they were two separate ones. a lot in this book just felt underdeveloped. the characters, the relationships, and the plot lines were all rushed in order to make this book fit four years, making for a patchy read that didn't feel complete.

nell has grown up in poverty and hardship in a large family. she is hard and strong and stubborn in a world that teaches women to be soft and weak and passive. she is also implied to be trans, and it was really great to see that representation in this novel. i liked nell well enough, but she sometimes had a the habit of aggravating me slightly. may, in complete contrast, has grown up fairly wealthy with her mother. her and her mother are both pacificts, quakers, suffragists, and feminists, and both have long campaigned for equality and peace. may is also incredibly stubborn, set in her belief that she is always right. may is a character that a lot of people found annoying, but who i quite liked. i appreciated her character growth and development throughout the book too. the inclusion of two gay suffragettes made my heart incredibly happy, even if their romance was a little too insta-love for my liking. it wasn't my favourite f/f romance out there, but it was very heart warming to see two seemingly unlikely people come together and find comfort and acceptance with one another.

evelyn was a character that i had mixed feelings on. i liked her well enough at the beginning, but i wasn't quite sure by the end. i think my main problem with evelyn was that i couldn't really get a grasp of who she was or what she believed in. this made sense, as evelyn herself seemed to have problems with figuring it out herself. however, it did make it hard to form any kind of connection to her or understand her on a deep level. even her involvement in the suffragette movement felt forced and like something she wasn't entirely sure she believed in. i never felt that she had a strong belief in the cause. evelyn felt like someone who wanted to rebel against the corrupt system more to satisfy her rebellious whims rather than for an actual belief in the cause. during the second half of the book, all thoughts of the suffragettes were pushed aside to make room for a romance that i wasn't even sure if evelyn wanted. even all of her suffering in the prison and everything that came before that was basically hindered invalid, because she almost immediately apologised for and regretted all of it. she ended the book as the housewife that she previously never wanted to be, and that anticlimactic ending for her left a bitterness in my mouth. all of her fights and struggles for freedom were for nothing, and she was left to live out the rest of her days minding over teddy. i had just hoped for more for her. (i would like to note that i have nothing against housewives. my problem lies in the fact that evelyn previously explicitly and frequently stated that she never wanted to be a housewife). she was someone i enjoyed reading about at the start, but not so much towards the end as her focus turned to being a housewife rather than fighting for independence.

as mentioned earlier, although i had hoped that the focus would be on the suffragette movement rather than on the war, i was very pleased the with the discussions of war that the book brought up. it showed the impact that ww1 had on women, men, children, suffragettes, the wealthy, and the poor. it accurately and honestly showed the damage of war and the impact it had on everyone, not pulling any punches on the harshness of war. the conversations on violence and peace were also very well done, exploring both viewpoints effectively.

sadly, i was hoping for more diversity in a book that i would have expected a lot of diversity in already. the f/f relationship representation was great, but i don't recall any active poc characters in the whole book. it was fabulously diverse in it's representation of the lgbtq community and class differences, but severely lacked in the representation of poc characters. the book would have greatly benefited if it had represented all women in the movement, not only white women. the portrayal of a woc and the struggles she would have faced would have truly increased the impact of the book. i also noticed a definite lack of female friendships in a book that i would have expected to be filled with them, which was disappointing too. another complaint of mine was that i would have hoped for there to have been more on page action, rather than being told second-hand what things the suffragettes had done.

things a bright girl can do was an important and powerful book that provided a much needed insight into the fight women went through in order to get the right to vote. it wasn't perfect, but it was moving and insightful. although the ending was quite anticlimactic and slightly disappointing, i can forgive the book because it had a very powerful first half. i enjoyed my time reading this book and would recommend it to anyone looking to gain more knowledge on the suffragette movement!

[Daisy May Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been sitting on this review for a week or so, in that gloriously selfish phase of having read a Good Book but not wanting to talk about it. Sometimes I want to wallow in that sensation and just hold it tight to myself, that feeling of having read something transformative, big, honest and real. The events of the past few days have, however, reminded me of the importance of talking about this sort of thing and so here I am; earlier than I intended, because this book is not due out until September, but I think now's the right time to tell you about it.

Sally Nicholls is a joy. She has this great gift of story; and so I was thrilled to receive a review copy of Things A Bright Girl Can Do. It's Suffragettes, it's history, it's bravery, it's love. It's gorgeous, really, and it made me so utterly possessive of it. It follows the stories of three different girls as they work to realise their political and personal views. They fall in love, out of love, and the relationships which underpin this novel are beautiful and sensitively told. Honestly too; there's no easy racing off into the sunset here, everything has to be earned.

I loved this book. It's so determined and genuine, and Nicholls tells the story with such a straightforward honesty that it's hard to not get sucked in. It's a perspective that I haven't read enough of and so I also welcome this. To add to that, I'm also very grateful for the rise of overtly political and politicised young adult fiction. Things A Bright Girl Can Do doesn't sugarcoat the process of becoming politically active, but it does render it as an absolutely vital experience.

And it believes in teenagers, young people. It believes in their chance and their ability to make a difference. Get this on pre-order now, and when it comes shelve it with something like Troublemakers, and let them work their respective magics.

As I said at the start of this review, I didn't really want to talk about Things A Bright Girl Can Do because I was selfish over it. Possessive. But here's the thing, that's what a good book gives you. You have that moment with it and then you realise that, as great and vital as that moment is, it's time to share it with the world because you can't let a book that's as good as this go unheard.

My thanks to the publishers for a review copy.

[BookOfCinz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things a Bright Girl Can Do Is the story of three young female protagonist- Evelyn, Nell and May who are all a part of the Suffragette movement. The book is set in London during the peak of the Suffragette movement and WW1. It’s always interesting reading historical fiction told from a Young Adult POV, I think this is what stood out the most for me and this book.

All three girls, though a part of the movement came from different backgrounds and were in the movement for different reasons. Evelyn is the oldest and is set to live the clichéd life of marrying her childhood sweetheart, having kids and managing a household. Except, Evelyn wants to go to University and learn and be able to make decisions on her own. Nell, who is from a humble background lives with her parents and 7 other siblings, is the expected to work to take care of her family. She dresses like a boy because that’s how she feels most comfortable and she also loves girls. She is a part of the Suffragette movement because she believes in Girl Power and their right to be who they want in the world. May lives with her Mom who is a known rebel, as a child she was exposed to various movements and causes that spoke to Women’s rights. She lives for a protest and fighting the power.

The book is told from the POV of these three girls during a time where their future is unknown with the impending war. We get a glimpse into their personal lives, how they handle the demands and expectations of society- which for me was the most insightful read for me.

Overall, a great YA novel, I think every young reader should be privy to this book. If you are interested in the Suffragette movement, this is a must read as well.

[Lauren James]

[Gifted]

Twenties English suffragettes trying to get independence and thrills (and also fall in love)

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.5 stars*

This book is just wonderful - warm and witty, genuinely wise, and alternately charming, upsetting and downright terrifying - but with such a deep well of compassion running throughout for all of its different characters even when all three of its heroines disagree intensely with each other.

All three heroines come from very different backgrounds. Evelyn comes from a conservative middle-class family, May is the daughter of a radical vegetarian socialist feminist single mother (but still has a housekeeper) and Nell is one of 6 children crammed (with their parents) into a two-room flat in London's East End, battling against starvation and outright desperation. They all come to the suffrage movement (fighting to win women the vote) for different reasons, but each one of them is fighting in her own way to find purpose and fulfilment in her life. All three of them are sympathetic by the end of the book, and I wanted every one of them to be happy, but Nicholls is ruthlessly clear-eyed in exposing all of her heroines' own blinders, foibles, and limitations as well as their shining strengths.

17-year-old Evelyn, who has never been allowed to read a newspaper and has been forbidden to go to college (because what would be the point? her parents ask), is fiercely intelligent and bursting with frustrated potential - but she's also fairly immature (for understandable reasons, given her upbringing) and quite self-absorbed in the beginning of the book. Her sweetheart, Teddy, is a very nice guy who wants to support her - but as regrettable as he finds the subjugation of women to be (and as good an idea as he thinks women's suffrage would be *in theory*), he sees any real social change as an impossible pipe dream, not worth risking your life to fight for, so he does everything he can to discourage Evelyn's involvement with the suffragettes.

May (a pacifist Quaker feminist who studies at a private school) and Nell (a soldier's atheist daughter who's worked in a factory for years and loves the fighting at the suffrage rallies) may both be 14 years old, but they come from such different worlds, it's hard for them to even understand each other's perspectives. Still, they fall deeply in love in an intense romance that risks an awful lot...but only for Nell, who lacks all of May's privilege. Nell, in a different time period, might have identified as trans or genderqueer, but she's living in the 1910s in the East End and faces abuse and discrimination every day just for wearing men's clothing.

And when World War I begins, every one of their lives - along with the suffrage movement itself - is thrown into turmoil.

The book covers five years, and it's utterly immersive and compelling throughout - like a lovely fat, satisfying Rosamunde Pilcher saga but with far sharper edges. Really upsetting things happen along the way (although nothing I'd assign a trigger warning to, fwiw); characters sometimes struggle with terrible hopelessness for good reason; but the overall feeling of the book is so warm and generous and uplifting, and the ending is just about perfect. I let out a happy good-book sigh when I finished it and patted the cover affectionately - and I have a LONG list of friends in mind who will love it!

My single nitpick (and the only reason that this isn't a full 5-star review) is that, although there are multiple references to how multi-ethnic the East End is - and May idolizes the glamorous suffragette Princess Sophia Duleep Singh when she reads about her in the news - there isn't a single active character in the book who's a PoC. This book is so intelligent and subtle in the way it shows the effect of class differences as well as what it was like to be LGBTQ in this period, and the topic of racism is addressed in a really powerful scene showing the abuse of a German woman in Nell's neighborhood during the war...but still. In a book that's trying to show so much of the breadth of the suffrage movement across different social scales, it would have been nice to at least show the Indian suffragettes taking their own places in the big rallies that are written about, or show Nell actually interacting with any PoC characters from the different ethnicities that apparently share her neighborhood.

However, that doesn't change the fact that this book was wonderful in every other way. It made the whole fascinating historical period feel so vividly real in every detail, and so breathlessly exciting, too. I think it would be impossible to read this book as a girl or a woman and not feel IRATE at every level of injustice that was accepted as the norm only 100 years ago - and it's incredibly inspiring to realize just how much change WAS successfully implemented over the last century, to make those historical details so outrageous in retrospect!

It's also a book that's incredibly resonant with modern civil rights movements, as different women debate furiously over the most effective methods of activism, whether it's better to only do peaceful types of protest or to take more aggressive action to force people to pay attention - and as pleasant, liberal people shake their heads about women's suffrage (something we now pretty much universally agree is an essential point of justice) because "I might sympathise if they went about it differently, but really, with behavior like that..." (A paraphrase, not a direct quote.)

This was a book that not only inspired me with hope that seemingly-impossible change really CAN happen - that as a society we can make changes bigger and better than any that sound remotely likely or predictable to us now - but also made me question some of my own assumptions. (What potentially fixable issues do I thoughtlessly shrug off because "that's the way life is"?)

This book made me think, it made me cheer, it was a hugely enjoyable read, and I just loved the depth of the characterization and all the different levels of ambiguity in both the girls themselves and the situations they find themselves in. I devoured the whole novel in just over a day because I couldn't stop coming back to it - I just wanted to sink into that world and live with those fierce, wonderful girls. I'm full of theories about all of the heroines' possible futures (after the ending of the book) and I really want to talk about them! I'm having to force myself to end this review here (is this my longest review ever? quite possibly!), but it's honestly a struggle because I just want to talk and TALK about this book in general - it absolutely begs to be read by book clubs and groups of friends.

So in other words: please read it so that we can talk about the characters together! :)

[Aoife · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely ADORED this book. It was a true privilege to get to meet the author at DeptCon3 in Dublin this year and hear her talk about her inspirations and her experience writing this novel.
Things a Bright Girl Can Do is funny, warm, inspiring, questioning, and angry in the very best way. Everyone should read this book.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75