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landofnowhereThe Once and Future Witches, Alix E. Harrow. Fantasy with witches in the US women's suffrage era. Generally good fun so far, though it's really about the modern feminist movement LARPing as historical suffragette witches, rather than being grounded in its historical era.
One reason I like reading period suffragette fiction is to get a sense for how historical activist movements and the culture around them compare and contrast to present-day activism, and more generally to explore the ways in which the past is a different country. You're not getting this here. But on the other hand you are getting modern intersectional feminism and not having to worry about getting gratuitous period racism.
I particularly wish there was more detail on clothing and where it's coming from. There's a comment about how dresses without pockets are a tool of the oppressive patriarchy, but nothing about women altering their skirts to add pockets. There's a shirtwaist factory that burns down in the background, but no indication as to whether anyone's wearing these shirtwaists.
The Extraordinary Case of the Boole Family, Moira Chas. Linked byoursin -- this is actually from 2019, I would have seen it in print at the time, but I don't remember it that well. At any rate, it's good stuff -- both on George Boole's career trajectory from a self-taught shoemaker's son to, after many years and much hard work, a professor and namesake of Boolean logic -- but also the stories of his lesser-known female relatives, including his daughter Alicia Boole Stott, who was skilled at visualizing the fourth dimension. Written for an audience of mathematicians, but most of it is accessible to a general reader.
One reason I like reading period suffragette fiction is to get a sense for how historical activist movements and the culture around them compare and contrast to present-day activism, and more generally to explore the ways in which the past is a different country. You're not getting this here. But on the other hand you are getting modern intersectional feminism and not having to worry about getting gratuitous period racism.
I particularly wish there was more detail on clothing and where it's coming from. There's a comment about how dresses without pockets are a tool of the oppressive patriarchy, but nothing about women altering their skirts to add pockets. There's a shirtwaist factory that burns down in the background, but no indication as to whether anyone's wearing these shirtwaists.
The Extraordinary Case of the Boole Family, Moira Chas. Linked by
oursin -- this is actually from 2019, I would have seen it in print at the time, but I don't remember it that well. At any rate, it's good stuff -- both on George Boole's career trajectory from a self-taught shoemaker's son to, after many years and much hard work, a professor and namesake of Boolean logic -- but also the stories of his lesser-known female relatives, including his daughter Alicia Boole Stott, who was skilled at visualizing the fourth dimension. Written for an audience of mathematicians, but most of it is accessible to a general reader.