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Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History Audio CD – Unabridged, Feb. 27 2024
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The #1 New York Times bestselling historical novelist delivers her magnum opus--a landmark work of feminist nonfiction that radically redefines our understanding of the extraordinary roles ordinary women played throughout British history and "should be included in every history lesson" (Glamour UK)
"As author and lead narrator, Gregory's passion for this topic is evidence in her confident narration. . . . This audio should be savored. . . . This stellar work will be of interest to feminists, historians, Anglophiles, and those who like learning more about women throughout history." --Booklist (starred review)
Did you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry? That the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was started and propelled by women who were protesting a tax on women? Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just that women were naturally inferior to men, but that they'd evolve to become ever more inferior?
These are just a few of the startling findings you will learn from reading Philippa Gregory's Normal Women. In this ambitious and groundbreaking book, she tells the story of England over 900 years, for the very first time placing women--some fifty per cent of the population--center stage.
Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records, newspapers, and journals to find highwaywomen and beggars, murderers and brides, housewives and pirates, female husbands and hermits. The "normal women" you will meet in these pages went to war, ploughed the fields, campaigned, wrote, and loved. They rode in jousts, flew Spitfires, issued their own currency, and built ships, corn mills and houses. They committed crimes or treason, worshipped many gods, cooked and nursed, invented things, and rioted. A lot.
A landmark work of scholarship and storytelling, Normal Women chronicles centuries of social and cultural change--from 1066 to modern times--powered by the determination, persistence, and effectiveness of women.
"Lively, timely and gloriously energetic. Each page bursts with life, and every chapter swirls with personalities left out of traditional narratives of Britain's past. Philippa Gregory has produced something rare and wonderful: a genuinely new history of [Britain], with women at its beating heart." --Dan Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Plantagenets
"Stunning. . . . Full of surprises. . . . A brilliant, essential read." --The Independent (UK)
- Print length1 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarperCollins
- Publication dateFeb. 27 2024
- Dimensions15.24 x 15.24 x 2.54 cm
- ISBN-13979-8212701631
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Product description
About the Author
Dr. Philippa Gregory studied history at the University of Sussex and was awarded a PhD by the University of Edinburgh where she is a Regent and was made Alumna of the Year in 2009. She holds an honorary degree from Teesside University, and is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff. Philippa is a member of the Society of Authors and in 2016, was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Historical Fiction Award by the Historical Writers' Association. In 2018, she was awarded an Honorary Platinum Award by Neilsen for achieving significant lifetime sales across her entire book output. In 2021, she was awarded a CBE for services to literature and to her charity Gardens for the Gambia, and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Joe Jameson trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He has narrated over a hundred audiobooks, including titles by Gillian Slovo, Bear Grylls, Malorie Blackman, and Susan Hill, as well as The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff. He also works extensively in theater and television.
Tania Rodrigues is a London-based actor and voice artist and an Earphones Award-winning narrator. She brings a unique cultural perspective to her work, coming from a family with roots in India, Portugal, and Britain. She grew up in Hong Kong and has since lived in both the UK and US. She trained at the Drama Studio in London and completed a BA degree with honors in English and drama. She has narrated many award-winning audiobooks, including the Booker Prize winner The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai.
Clare Corbett, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, studied at the Welsh College of Music and Drama. After winning the Carlton Hobbs audition, she was chosen to be on BBC Radio. After leaving BBC she went on to narrate several children's books, including Over the Moon, I Rule Dogsbottom School, and Boy Beware. She has transitioned into reading young adult novels, including many installments in the Doctor Who series.
James Goode is an American author and winner of Washingtonian's prestigious "Washingtonian of the Year" award. He is the author of Best Addresses: A Century of Washington's Distinguished Apartment Houses and currently lives in Washington, DC.
Product details
- ASIN : B0CHXRBGWM
- Publisher : HarperCollins
- Publication date : Feb. 27 2024
- Edition : Unabridged
- Language : English
- Print length : 1 pages
- ISBN-13 : 979-8212701631
- Dimensions : 15.24 x 15.24 x 2.54 cm
- 鶹 Rank: #1,142,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #12 in English History (Books)
- #25 in Social History (Books)
- #412 in Women's Biographies (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Philippa Gregory is an internationally renowned historian and novelist. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature at the University of Edinburgh and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff, an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck University of London and she was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for her services to literature and to charity. Her novels have been adapted for stage and screen and in 2023 she published her groundbreaking history book, Normal Women - 900 Years of Making History, which was also released as a podcast, a teen edition and a series for young children.
Customer reviews
Top reviews from Canada
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- Reviewed in Canada on February 2, 2025Verified PurchaseThis book is excellent and informative. Highly recommend it.
- Reviewed in Canada on November 15, 2024Verified PurchaseThis was a fabulous book about nine-hundred years of the History of British Women. Would someone do one for American and Canadian Women.
- Reviewed in Canada on June 2, 2025Verified PurchaseI am a massive Philippa Gregory fan but this didn’t seem like her best . I read a lot of fiction but also read historical fiction on a regular basis ( especially British history ) but this didn’t feel like a fictional book or a historical book I don’t know quite how to describe it ? Absolutely some good historical tidbits but the delivery was off , it jumped all over the place modern to medieval to Tudor without really establishing a theme . Perhaps if the book had been set out with a more cohesive timeline from past to present instead of bouncing all over it would have been more enjoyable. Of course there is a ton of great research and interesting facts and as anyone who has read a Philippa Gregory book knows , she is a fantastic researcher so it’s certainly worth reading . If your looking for lots of very interesting facts about the role of women throughout history then I highly recommend this book just know that the delivery is a bit chaotic.
- Reviewed in Canada on June 5, 2025Verified PurchaseDamaged case lots of crushed plastic . Defective cds
Returned for refund
- Reviewed in Canada on January 4, 2025Verified PurchaseThis is all facts and no story. I found it really boring and only read 15% of the book before I quit. Not at all like her fictional history books.
Top reviews from other countries
- AmexReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible of women's development
Verified PurchaseThis book is not something to read. It needs extra attention and getting in depth with so many historical periods and details that at some point if feels like studying a new subject. Reading it just once is not enough - this is an amazing and substantial work. It is also incredibly exciting as it reveals totally unknown facts that require extra reading. I recommend the book to everyone who loves to learn and get in depth into historical processes.
- StephanieReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 18, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating devastating read
Verified PurchaseA beautifully woven history of women which details the origins of today's inequalities such as, how women's labour moved from valued and paid to being invisible and free and why we have been forced into two genders. It details how the double shift was born and how 'women's work' was gradually forced to the home where it was unseen. It was empowering to read about a history where women worked in ale production, were a part of guilds, played football first and boxed. And it was devastating to see how this was slowly eroded by a society of men who feared women's sexualities and independence. Gregory highlights a pattern of woman doing something - like knitting, boxing, weaving, owning taverns, painting, - then men taking it up, excluding women by barring their access to it, then removing them from records.
It is particularly interesting that I'm reading this at a time when we see hearing about the effect a lack of female input had in the COVID response. I understand this is a new context now because the book explains the evolution of why male incompetence still chosen over female brilliance.
I need to read it again. There was just too much to take in - one gem that has stayed in the forefront of my mind is that fact that a male doctor kept the life saving invention of forceps as a secret knowledge to be passed down his line. Meanwhile women died needlessly. The whole book is a fascinating, devastating read.
StephanieA fascinating devastating read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 18, 2023
It is particularly interesting that I'm reading this at a time when we see hearing about the effect a lack of female input had in the COVID response. I understand this is a new context now because the book explains the evolution of why male incompetence still chosen over female brilliance.
I need to read it again. There was just too much to take in - one gem that has stayed in the forefront of my mind is that fact that a male doctor kept the life saving invention of forceps as a secret knowledge to be passed down his line. Meanwhile women died needlessly. The whole book is a fascinating, devastating read.
Images in this review
- BrentCReviewed in Australia on August 19, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars A great present for my wife
Verified PurchaseI bought this book as a present for my wife as I know she has previously read other Phillipa Gregory novels.
She read it from cover to cover and told me how much she enjoyed it.