Century Girls

by Tessa Dunlop

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Tessa Dunlop made pains to select women from broad walks of life and succeeds in weaving a rich tapestry of experiences.'The Independent ‘A warm-hearted and engaging read, The Century Girls is replete with wonderful characters.’ Sunday Express 'Dunlop has pulled off an impressive feat of oral history...creating a moving portrait of a world that is now lost forever.' Who Do You Think You Are?​A celebration of the one-hundred years since British women got the vote, told, in their own voices, by six Helena, Olive, Edna, Joyce, Ann and Phyllis – The Century Girls​In 2018 Britain celebrates the centenary of some women getting the vote. The intervening ten decades have witnessed staggering change, and The Century Girls features six women born in 1918 or before who haven’t just witnessed that change, they’ve lived it. Empire shrank, war came and went, and modern society demanded continual readjustment.... the Century Girls lasted the course, and this book weaves together their lifetime’s adventures – what they were taught, how they were treated, who they loved, what they did and where they are now. With stories that are intimately knitted into the history of the British Isles, this is a time-travel epic featuring our oldest, most precious national treasures. Edna, 102, was a domestic servant born in Lincolnshire. Helena is 101 years old and the eldest of eight born into a Welsh farming family. Olive, 102, began life as a child of empire in British Guiana and was one of the first women to migrate to London after the war. There’s Ann, a 103-year-London bohemian; 100-year-old Phyllis, daughter of the British Raj, who has called Edinburgh home for nearly eighty years; and finally ‘young’ Joyce – a 99-year-old Cambridge classicist who’s still at work. It is through the prism of these women’s very long lives that The Century Girls provides a deeply personal account of British history over the past one hundred years. Their story is our story too.Further praise for The Century Girls 'It features among others my teacher and mate, 99 year old Joyce Reynolds, going super strong and still a stern and helpful critic.' Mary Beard 'A delightful book . . . all about women and women's lives.' Jane Garvey, Radio 4 Woman's Hour​ ‘A deeply personal and moving account of the last 100 years of British history.’ The Bookseller 'It’s a brilliant book… It’s fantastic!' Chris Evans, Radio 2 Breakfast Show ‘What better way to mark the centenary of some British women getting the vote than to read about inspirational women who witness revolutionary changes? Six centenarians reminisce on their incredible century. A history lesson to savour.’ The Lady ‘A warm-hearted and engaging read, The Century Girls is replete with wonderful characters.’ Sunday Express   ‘“The book offers a highly personal insight into British society over the past century...... The frank, probing style of Dunlop’s interview technique allows us access to a series of revealing and enlightening stories which would otherwise have been lost......  Dunlop manages to capture these unique personalities in her book with a touching intimacy that never strays into sentimentality.” –  The Scotsman   “Tessa Dunlop has found a uniquely personal touch… Dunlop has pulled of an impressive feat of oral history, weaving the women’s memories of their long lives into a coherent narrative and setting it in the context of events at the time… They recount their memories  in incredible details, creating a moving portrait of a world that is now lost forever. If you have older female relatives this book will inspire you to capture their stories” – Who Do You Think You Are?  ‘This year is the centenary of women getting the vote in Britain....Tessa Dunlop has had one of those ideas that belong firmly in the ‘simple-but-brilliant’ speaking to six women who’ve been alive for all those hundred years.... The result is a wonderful blend of British history with individual stories – and for any reader under about 90, an often startling reminder of how much things have changed.’ Reader’s Digest

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Book Club, History, Feminism

368 pages, Paperback

Published March 7, 2019

About the author

Tessa Dunlop is a television presenter, radio broadcaster and historian. She has presented history programmes on BBC1 London, BBC2, Discovery Europe, Channel 4, UKTV History and the History Channel (USA).

In 2005 Dunlop won a Royal Television Society award for her work on regional magazine show Inside Out West.

In 2007 Dunlop filmed Paranormal Egypt, a six-part series, with Derek Acorah on location in Egypt.

Dunlop read history at Oxford University, where she also won the Gertrude Easton Prize. Her articles have appeared in a number of British newspaper publications including The Guardian, The Independent, The Mail on Sunday and The Herald.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writer and broadcaster Tessa Dunlop decided to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of women getting the vote in the UK by talking to six women of around one hundred years old and who had lived through the first hundred years of women getting the vote. She then tells their stories chronologically over the century. This can at times make the book seem a little disjointed.
The six are a varied bunch. There is the academic Joyce Reynolds, a pioneer amongst women academics and tutor to Mary Beard. Olive was born in Guyana and was one of the Windrush generation who came to Britain in the 1950s. Edna was born in Lincolnshire to a poor family and spent many years in service. Helen was born in Wales to a farming family and lived local to her birth all her life. Ann is a London Bohemian working in Art and publishing. Phyllis was born in India in the time of the Raj and ended up in Scotland. Some of them married, some did not, some had children.
The women have led interesting and different lives and Dunlop charts them in some detail. They are the stars of the show and are all remarkable. This is a good slice of twentieth century social history and is certainly an interesting charting of how women lives have developed and changed (or not) over a century.

[Carol_h1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful stories of some pretty amazing women.

[Ms Nicola Kettle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved reading these stories of time gone by. Was emotionally invested with Anne Sedgwick being my husbands great aunt, she was truly an incredible woman.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six women, all around 100 years old, written to celebrate 100 years since women (some) were able to vote. All six from different backgrounds, each with different experiences of life, all achieved great lives beyond their early early circumstances, and inspired others.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. These six women are all inspiring and have certainly lived a full and long life. Not always an easier life and each having sometimes similar experiences to each even though from different backgrounds. This author has written this in a sensitive and interesting way not dedicating one chapter to each women but each chapter a subject or year where each of the women have something to say. I was lucky enough to meet Helena recently and she truly is a wonderful women like all of these women. This book is an inspiration and should be read by everyone and I will certainly be buying a few copies for my friends. Thank you Tessa Dunlop for writing such a great read and insight to these remarkable womens lives.

[Madeline Smyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting comparison of different lives, but I didn't like the way it was written. I didn't like the interpretations made by the author and found them unnecessary. The women's voices could have been left to speak for themselves.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this book is research based with citations throughout it does not read as such. I find most research based books dull; here’s the point I want to make, here’s the supporting research, here’s my point restated. In this book though you hardly notice the citations.

The six women covered in this narrative represent a wide variety of examples of “Britishness” from pre-WWI to today. Edna the domestic servant (wouldn’t I love to sit and have a chat with her!), Ann upperclass, Joyce middle class, Helena Welsh farming family, Phyllis British India, and last but certainly not least Olive British Guiana.

The change these women have seen over their lives is amazing and the spirit, perseverance and tenacity they have in common is inspiring.

This wasn’t a book that I just couldn’t put down, but it is a book I will re-read many, many times as I want the ladies to be and stay part of my life.

[Becky Somers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, absolutely loved this read. The personal, funny and often touching stories of the six remarkable women featured; interwoven in British history of the last century is a winner.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 / 5 An excellent and really enjoyable read about these exceptional and very different women's lives in the context of mainly British history.

[Miss R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book. I really enjoyed getting to know the ladies and hearing about their experiences of history.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive view of the past 100 years through the stories of 6 remarkable women .

With each decade and each voice, I thought "this is my favourite"... I definitely found some women more interesting/engaging than others but by the end I had a lot of favourites! I especially liked Edna's stories of service and hardship, and Helen's life of Welsh farming and teaching.

I read this straight after finishing The Bletchley Girls by the same author, but this book had a much smaller cast and had a list and photos - a HUGE help when keeping track of each woman! I only got confused really at the beginning, and by the end I wanted to re-read it now I knew each woman well.

First and foremost, it was a glimpse into a very different world. A lot has changed in 100 years, so much that we don't realise or take for granted. Childhood mortality, household technology, girls' education and restricted jobs for women, dependencies on parents, societal rules and expectations, geography.... The decline of the British Empire and the scandals and changes in the British Royal family were obvious overtones to the century.

The women's different experiences of love, marriage and family - and the obligations which came with each - was an eye opener, and also reassuring. We don't all 'have it all' when we are young, or ever. Olive's determination to provide for her children was very inspiring, and Helen's sacrifices to look after her parents, siblings and farm was a real difference to today's more selfish world.

The mentions of politics were also interesting. Often we lump the 'older generation' into a single category - over 65, Conservative, middle class (which Dunlop briefly and rightly criticises). But the chapter towards the end showed that each woman had very different views, and voted accordingly - and I could understand each point of view. I appreciated that.

Overall this was engaging, very readable, and quite moving. It sat between 4 and 5 stars, but I've settled on 5 stars because I got so much from it. Lots of words of wisdom and lots to learn.

[Sam Herbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six different women, all born before or in 1918, talk about their journey through life. Some have similar stories; Helena and Edna, both hailing from Wales, were quite poor, living hand to mouth existences, coming from farming and domestic service backgrounds respectively; Ann and Joyce, both lived more comfortable lives and were actively encouraged to pursue their academic careers, of which they succeeded at very high standards; and Phyllis and Olive, from India and Guyana respectively, but still part of the British Empire, longed to live in the Mother Country, Great Britain, and their journeys eventually brought them here. Discussing suffrage and women getting the vote, the First World War, the Depression in the 1930's, to the Second World War and the post-war changes, to the Swinging Sixties and sexual liberation, no stone is left unturned in this book. It's written well and flowed smoothly and it was easy to remember which character was which, but I can't help feeling it would have been a better read if it was more like diary entries or individual memoirs. It was interesting to read about the differences in experiences they lived through in Britain and there is no doubt each woman is an inspiration, pioneers and trailblazers of their time.

[Js100 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tessa Dunlop had the idea of interviewing centenarian women about their long lives and wide experiences in the centenary of women getting the vote. Her selection, she had a choice in this age of longevity, from a pool of nearly 50 who contacted her, naturally settled on the lively and fully alert, and almost by definition very resilient women. So it was by no means a representative sample , but an most interesting and varied one. Six women feature. Helena the Welsh farming daughter and wife, Joyce the academic, Olive the Guyanese dressmaker, Edna the domestic servant, Phyllis born in India but wife to a sea captain, and Ann, art publisher.

It is a very good idea. It is implemented, by embedding quotes into quite lengthy essays on various aspects of 20 c social history, empire, education , women's experience of menstruation, sex, relationships, marriage, childbirth, employment and so on. It certainly highlights the changes . If, like me, you lived through half of the century and are familiar with the social history, the women’s fascinating direct comments are sometimes a little lost in familiar historical narratives. I too, a mere 74, remember the pink maps in primary school, and Mrs Thatcher.

Each topic , roughly chronological, covers all the women. They are brought together well, in a compare and contrast style that holds interest. A little slow at the start, where there is more narrative infill of history, the accounts become more personal as the decades progress.

The narratives also become more left field and feminist as the stories progress, and also more intimate, she saw them several times, enough to get below the surface, although some showed the reticence of their upbringing. She also met relatives and friends that round out the portraits. There are some acute observations on the way e.g. that media and pollsters lump all over 65 s together, when there are millions of 70 and 80 year olds and 800,000 90 year olds who don’t necessarily all think or vote in the same way. The section on voting inevitably has much on the current Brexit saga, which will of course date the book a little.

However, this is a book that will overall improve with age, and for younger readers is an excellent introduction to the lived experience of the 20 c. through the lens of a wide range of relatively ordinary lives. Ordinary lives, extraordinary people. Well worth the read.

[Clair Kiffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A glimpse into the life story of 6 women who are over 100 years old.
I am not really a fan of history books so wouldn’t of picked this book up if it wasn’t for book club. I find it hard to imagine what the past was like but these stories did help describe what it was like for the individuals and each one is different.
I did get mixed up with the ladies and certain points and only Olive stood out the most because of the voice she was given.
I listened to this book on audible.
Listening to this book has made me grateful for the appliances we now have, but I guess I would need them with working full time, whereas in the earlier years I’m this book women didn’t have jobs. Listening to some of the stories about their daily routines sounded therapeutic in a way.
I was amazed at how sheltered they were with regards to woman’s bodily functions and think this was rather mean. I think a lot seems to have changed for women in the last 100 years and I wonder what will happen in the next 100 years or so.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book about women who have lived for over a hundred years and all of the changes that they have seen and been through. It looks in depth at the lives of seven women including a Lincolnshire girl who was a house servant and the wealthy Ann who ran an art gallery. It looks at how British life is different now and then seen through the eyes of people who lived through what we see as history, from a woman who comes over from Guyana to another who was brought up in India by her English parents and then moved to her mother country as an adult. By following the story of Joyce we can learn about how the education system was stacked against women and what it was like to go to university when such a thing was not common at all for women. This is a book to read slowly and digest the history while getting to know some remarkable ladies.

[Alison Alice-May · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a interesting book about six inspirational women who have all lived over a hundred years. Unfortunately I did not like the style of the writing. In my view, the views of the women didn’t require interpretation. They were strong enough to stand on their own. I would also have preferred one woman’s voice at a time. Placing all voices together in the same chapter resulted in me needing to check whose voice I was listening to be going back to the start of the chapter.

All that being said, these women, despite different backgrounds, sometimes had similar experiences. They were certainly all inspirational. They all lived full and long lives. The women lived from pre-World War One to the current day. The changes observed by these women were amazing and their tenacity awe inspiring.

[Charlotte Aitken · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely beautiful book: I didn't want it to end!
The Century Girls is an account of the lives of six women in Britain who lived to one hundred years or more. Through interviews with the women themselves, their relatives and friends it recounts the stories of these remarkable women and the many changes they have seen. Their insight and perspective is, I think, the most remarkable aspect of the book. If they don't want to talk about something, they dont; if they have an opinion on a topic, they will share it! I loved it.

[Kimberley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m totally fascinated with the lives of women who came of age around the 20s/30s and then were grandmother age in the 60s/70s, I’m not sure there’s another generation who experienced such radical world and life changes. So this was made for me. Absolutely fascinating. Provides a bittersweet reassurance that nothing really changes while everything changes. My takeaway is that life and death happen regardless, so you may as well do everything you can to create as much joy as you can while you’re here.

[Zoe Wyatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disappointing read. I had expected an analysis of women and their experiences in general since 1918. The book focusses too much on the six `Century' women, who are all over 100 now. Because of this age restriction, their 'participation' in British history over the past 50 years is lacking diversity (e.g these women were ~50 years old during second-wave feminisim, and so I gained no insight into women's experience during this period). The author has a few frustratingly ill-thought political and economic comments.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting book celebrating the lives of six long lived women who have experienced many changes both sociologically and technologically. They are all lively personalities and they seem to have struck up a rapport with the author, which comes across. I was grateful for the photographs on the back jacket and in the centre to help me differentiate between the women. As the book is written chronologically rather than concentrating on each person at a time, I was occasionally confused.

[Natasha Hyslop · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book, being as my Grandma is 96 this gave me an in-site into the things that have happened during her own lifetime. Born in the 20’s she would have experienced many of the things these 6 great ladies have within this book.
By the end of the book it’s as though they have become your friends from the page as you know so much about them. No 2 ladies are they same each with there unique story.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thus is a really fascinating and engaging read. Six women share their experiences through the last century. Very personal retelling of British history through the eyes of six centenarians. Nicely written, an easy read, and well indexed and referenced. An inspiring read but also a bit depressing in that despite life having improved for us all the issues of class, racism, poverty etc still resonate so much in todays Britain.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Club book

Bit of a mixed bag really. I didn’t think it broke any new historical grounds, although some of the individual stories were interesting, particularly the two working class ladies, Edna and Helena, although Edna must be marked down for once voting UKIP. Edna was saying how well off she was now compared to pre WW2, neglecting the fact that most of not all of the changes came about from the post war Labour government and she remained a Tory voter.

[Lauren Cheetham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I simply adored this book!!
Uni work got in the way which meant I had to put it down for a while but as soon as I picked it up again I fell in love all over with these 6 women!
What and insight into lives of different social classes and cultures throughout the years.
Joyce, Anne, Phyllis, Olive, Edna and Helena are just wonderful 😊

[Pauine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book and found it fascinating to read how the six women’s lives have changed over a hundred years. They are all interesting despite their different upbringings. The only criticism about the book is that I had to keep referring back to the photos to visual who I was reading about. Each chapter refers to all the women.

[Tiffany Johnstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. Such fascinating stories between six women that are completely different to one another. From childhood to old age. Their story and resilience are amazing. I highly recommend this book who love stories about the suffragettes.

[Zoe East · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many many interesting tales from each of those wonderful ladies. But overall too long and lost me in parts, a little hard to keep track with switching between each person. Some memorable moments though and very very interesting going through the ages.

[Jubilado · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book. It took time to get the hang of the 6 women but it was still enjoyable. Fascinating getting to know the lives of women in the 20s and 30s. Well written and full of warmth. Their lives were different and varied.

[Terri Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into the changes in this country and beyond by six women born around the time of the First World War. From different walks of life, these women have experiences young people today will never get the chance at.

[Janet East · Rating 1 out of 5]

very difficult to read.