Initially really liked the sound of this, and I know that Nicholls is a solid YA author, but there were times that this verged on being a bit too far-fetched for me.

This one was a bit of a struggle to get through. The sapphic characters and the historical context of the suffragette movement were both intriguing pulls for me as a reader. But these interesting aspects are bogged down by the slow almost tedious pacing. I will recommend It for genre fans, especially those readers looking for queer content but this one was unfortunately not as satisfying as I hoped it would be.

'That was the sort of partner one wanted. A man who would tell you to your face when he thought you were acting like a bloody fool, and then stand beside you when you went ahead and did it anyway.'

Things a Bright Girl Can Do is a masterpiece of historical young adult fiction. Beginning shortly before the outbreak of World War I and finishing a few months before the war ended, the primary focus is on the suffrage movement - including both the suffragists and the suffragettes - but Sally Nicholls also explores the effects of war on young people and their families.

I only truly understood feminism in my late teens - before that I'd stupidly bought into the media lie that feminists are all hysterical and irrational - and during my time reading Things a Bright Girl Can Do I found myself wishing that it had been published earlier, because I think it would have completely changed my viewpoint. Sally Nicholls brings the suffrage movement to life, followng a handful of passionate characters from all different walks of life who have the shared goal of wanting better for women.

If you're the parent of a young person who isn't all that into history or politics, recommend this book to them. It's such an easy read and doesn't come across as preachy, so it's easier to take in and feels much more educational than the history lessons on the suffragettes that they'll be subjected to at school.

Not only that but there's lesbian rep, which I'm always going to celebrate - particularly in a book with a historical setting, where you often find characters with different sexualities are completely forgotten about!

This is the first Sally Nicholls book I've read, but it's certainly not going to be the last.

I absolutely LOVED this book. I laughed and cried, I gasped and was sat open mouthed engrossed in the story.
The characters were relateable and interesting and it portrays a viewpoint from a section of history that is not discussed enough.
I cannot wait to read more from Sally Nicholls

I loved this book. My favourite book of the year. Review available in full on my blog where I gush about how awesome it is.

This book focuses on three women growing up during World War One. It features women coming together, social history and other historical moments! I liked the idea of the book but I just wanted more I don't know how to eplain ti but would still reccommend reading it

Things a Bright Girl Can Do looks at the suffragette movement from three different perspectives and at what girls in that period of post-Victorian change would do to get equality. It is still a fight that we are striving for today but it is interesting to look at a fictional account of what suffrage meant during its hey-day.

We get to look at how the different classes were affected by the need for equal rights and how even with the onset of the Women’s Vote some people were still excluded. We see it from the perspective of a well-to-do young lady whose desperate need to fight the cause ended up with a prison sentence and a hunger strike. We see the Sapphic love between two girls from different classes, and we see how they both want the same thing when it comes to freedom and rights but how they both try to achieve it in different ways.

Things a Bright Girl Can Do is an interesting read and one that still holds relevance in modern society where the battle for total equality is still happening.

Things a Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls is available now.

For more information regarding Sally Nicholls (@Sally_Nicholls) please visit www.sallynicholls.com.

For more information regarding Penguin (@PenguinUKBooks) please visit www.penguin.co.uk.

A timely and intelligent look at women's suffrage through the eyes of young women, complete with exploration of sexuality and class. Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls meets Mollie on the March in this historical fiction novel from a much-lauded writer for teens and children.

I'll be honest, I do not usually read historical fiction books.  However, after I read Things a Bright Girl Can Do, I nearly kicked myself for not picking up this book sooner.  It was a delight to read.  With key events in history woven throughout each narrative, you can tell that Sally has thoroughly researched this novel inside and out.  Even though this is a work of fiction, Things a Bright Can Do does an excellent job of portraying the Suffragette movement in action, and in particular how it was affected by the arrival of the First World War.

FEATURED AS OUR BOOK OF THE MONTH IN SEPTEMBER 2017

I took History for A-Level. I had two exams in my final year: one covering the early Soviet Union, and another about the Suffragette movement.

I’m almost ashamed to admit that I completely flunked the Suffragette paper… While smashing the one about Lenin and Stalin. Why wasn’t I gelling with a topic that was as important to me now as it was to women then?

It has taken me years to really open my eyes to the ongoing struggles for equality, across many different sectors of the human race, including the continuing division between men and women. I think my teenager self was less enamoured with the politics of gender equality, because hey, we got the vote, didn’t we? What’s the problem?

I wish I could look into the mind of my younger self to see exactly what was going on in there at the time, but alas I can only guess. I just didn’t see it as a relatable topic. But why wasn’t it? Looking back, clearly there were still serious issues of expected gender roles and acceptable behaviour.

Example: When I was choosing my GCSE’s I really wanted to do Electronics. My dad is a certified leccy and I loved watching him solder things (begging to have a go) and then I’d try to read the colour bands on fuses.

But I was repeatedly told by the school “you’ll be the only girl”, like that would be a problem, like I should be worried about that, like that is a reason NOT to take up studies in that subject.

I don’t think I fully understood what they were trying to do, but I obviously got the “do something else” vibe loud and clear…

So I picked Food Technology. I know. I went to the kitchen. How obedient of me.

Did I want to be an electrician? No. Did I want to work with food? No. I didn’t want to do any job that would require qualifications in any of the technology subjects on offer.

This is a bit of a digression. But I think that if I’d have had a book as clever and as compelling as ‘Things A Bright Girl Can Do’ I’d have understood the history more, would have enjoyed it even, and maybe, just maybe, I’d have had more of an understanding of things going on around me too.

Books like this are important. Not only is ‘Things A Bright Girl Can Do’ brilliant storytelling, it also offers a fresh perspective on a pivotal moment in social history.

All I can say is thank you to Andersen Press for making it happen, for Sally Nicholls for writing it, and for a growing awareness that feminism and social politics isn’t something to be scared.

3.5

I really enjoyed this book. It was full of facts about the suffragette movement, the first world war and the struggles women, and teenagers went through. I liked that there was a relationship between two of the three main characters (even if I really didn't like the relationship). It had very brief elements of a Sarah Waters novel.

I felt a lack of consistency between the characters, I was wanting more female friendship between the three of them, which didn't happen. I also did not like the character of May, but I don't think she was supposed to be liked much. Nell and Evelyn were brilliant. It was a book of three stories rather than one.

I tried. I thought that the LGBT elements of the story and also the suffragette movement would be enough for me to get past my discomfort with historical fiction, however I have not been successful with this story. This is definitely a case of 'it's me, not you' though and I've loved seeing other readers really connect with this story and with the characters. It's just not for me. For right not, anyway.

I finished this in a single day. I love historical fiction and I don't read nearly enough of it.

Things a Bright Girl Can Do follows three protagonists from vastly different social and class spheres through their involvement in the suffragist movement and WWI. At first, I wasn't sold on sheltered, upper class Evelyn, but as the story progressed, her character development was incredible. I was invested in May and Nell from the outset. They are lesbians from different backgrounds. May is a schoolgirl living with her socially progressive, suffragist mother and a devote Quaker. Nell is part of a large, poor family from the East side who are scraping to get by. Their peacetime romance was beautiful, and I thought the way the author exposed the conflicts generated by the different way war hardship affected their families was excellent.

The depth of historical research in this book is amazing. I wrote my undergraduate thesis on Victorian attitudes to sexuality, including emerging theories on sapphism. It was so interesting to read these theories from May's perspective. i would give a trigger warning for Trans readers though -- everything presented in the book is accurate to medical and social theory at the time, but if you're not familiar with it, I think it could come across as offensive. Aside from research done on sexuality, everything was intricately researched from the way rations affected different people, to deployment, to the events at the suffragette meetings and conflicts with the law. As an American reader, it's easy to forget how intersectionally feminist the British suffragist movement was in comparison to the US movement. Suffragists in the U.K. were also fighting against classism, ableism and to a degree, homophobia.

A poignant look at wartime Britain and how it shaped a generation.

I’d like to consider myself a feminist, but admittedly I knew very little about suffrage in the UK and the suffragette movement before reading this novel. This was just one reason why I was eager to read this book. But also, I’d heard nothing but praise for Nicholl’s novel. Consequently, I was really surprised when, after a couple of chapters, I wasn’t really gripped by the plot or the characters. Because of the great reviews though, I persevered and I’m so glad I did.

Told from alternating perspectives of three girls allows the reader to understand the various difficulties women faced at the turn of the last century. Whilst I came to love Evelyn, Nel and May and their individual stories, I think it was their alternating chapters that delayed me really engaging with the story. However,the fact that each character had a different socio-economic background was crucial to creating a rich and full narrative that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I also found the story became truly gripping when World Was I broke out. I’ve studied both World Wars, but honestly don’t think I’ve read a more human account of what war was like for those left behind. History and literature are full of the horrors of war for the men on the front line and I’m not disputing how truly horrendous it was. However, the women – mothers, daughters, sisters, aunties – are generally overlooked and this made incredibly interesting reading.

On the whole I’m really glad I kept going with this book and I really wish there were more like it.

I enjoyed reading a World War One story revolving around young women - Evelyn, May and Nell. It brought to life a period of history I should know more about. I had not really appreciated how hard life was for so many - you know about the trenches but do not appreciate the sacrifices of the families back home. I was not really aware of the activities of the Suffragettes - the divisions within their ranks and the attitude of the government towards them.

It was interesting to see how the characters’ attitudes towards what really mattered changed as the story progressed.

The author dealt with the relationship between May and Nell very sensitively.

A thought provoking book.

I love reading about the suffragette movement, but this book just didn't do it for me.
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Three teenage girls join the suffragettes for their own reasons: Evelyn wants higher education but her parents think that would be wasted on a woman destined to become a homemaker; May has been a lifelong agitator because of her mother's involvement in several causes; Nell has never felt comfortable being confined to women's work, clothing, or expectations, and she's raring for a fight.
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May and Nell are gay (though Nell may be trans, in a time before the vocabulary for it was available). They meet at an organizational meeting for a suffragette demonstration. May almost immediately blurts out to Nell that she's a lesbian, and their relationship begins VERY quickly and is almost entirely dominated by May. This is the part that I didn't like. It's not that I think lesbians should be erased from the fight for women's suffrage, but I found May hard to take. She is headstrong and doesn't consider other people's feelings or circumstances, and to me, she's completely unlikable.
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Nell comes from a poorer part of town, and she's long been one of the providers for her large family. When her dad is called to war, she feels pressured to find more work. Her commitment to her family means she can't spend as much time with May, which causes tension between them, because May is selfish.
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By far the most compelling story is Evelyn's. She wants to go to college but she also really loves her boyfriend and wants to marry him. I think this is a conflict a lot of feminists have, because sometimes it seems like some people label you based on which path you decide to follow. Of the three, Evelyn makes the biggest physical sacrifice, going to prison and taking part in a hunger strike. This is the first time in fiction I've seen a detailed version of the process and its effects and it's pretty horrific.
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Even though I didn't really like the book, I'd still give it to young adult readers, as an intro to learning about women's suffrage and because of the representation on the page. Someone might learn something 🤷‍♀️

Really enjoyed this book especially because of the look at LGBT and gender at this point in British history! Just ordered a copy for my branch and will be recommending it

‘Rise up, women, for the fight is long and hard…’

Things a Bright Girl Can Do is an excellent historical romp through the Suffragette movement in England. It follows three girls with vastly different backgrounds – Evelyn, May, and Nell – between 1914 and 1918, as they navigate suffrage, love, and war. Much of the story can be found within history – most of us have at least a basic idea of the Suffragette movement and WWI, but I loved the way that Nicholls combined the two without causing one to overshadow the other. Although the novel is rooted more in the experiences of girls and women during the time, and the struggle for the vote, the impact of the war is also shown, with the devastation it caused to all.

The narrative is split between the three main characters – Evelyn, May, and Nell, three young women who all find themselves within the world of suffrage. Evelyn is rich and bright, and is expected to marry, have children, and keep house like her mother, but she wants more – she wants to be able to go to university like her brother, and finds herself drawn into the world of the Suffragettes by her longing for equal opportunities. I loved that even though Evelyn initially became more involved with the movement to rebel against her parents, she soon realises that the right to vote, to go to university, to be seen as an equal, is important for all and can be worth dying for.

'Evelyn was aware of the two ideologies sitting alongside each other in her head; the nice young girl from Hampstead who wanted to be respected, and the rebel woman who wanted to bring down the pillars of the world.'

May has grown up within the movement, her mother is a Quaker as well as a feminist, and has long campaigned for equality and peace. Although she is not as wealthy as Evelyn, May and her mother have never really struggled for money. May’s views are very black and white, and I enjoyed how she grew up within the novel, especially after she meets and falls for Nell; she begins to realise that things are not as simple as women being automatically treated the same as men, and conflict being resolved before a war happens, that there are many grey areas within the world that will take many years to change.

Nell, in complete contrast, has grown up in poverty and hardship. She has a loving family, but there are many mouths to feed and not always the resources to do so. She has grown up hard and strong in a world that tells women to be soft and gentle, to mind the children, to let others curse and fight. The relationship that develops between May and Nell was incredibly interesting as they have such different life experiences and viewpoints; they are very much a ‘chalk and cheese’ pairing, and I think Nicholls has done an incredible job of showing the impact of upbringing and how it can shape our world view.

'The war had taken even that away, Nell’s glorious battle for freedom. What did women’s freedom matter now? What did anything matter?'

As well as exploring the Suffrage movement, Nicholls shows the impact that WWI had – on women, men, children, the wealthy, the poor – on everyone, alongside the impact it had on suffragettes campaigning for the vote. So many different viewpoints are explored – pacifism, patriotism, racism, sexism, and how it all effected people for a vast array of different reasons, and they have all been explored with fairness and sensitivity. I don’t think I can really find fault with this book – highly recommended for anyone who wants a slightly fictional take on two very important moments in history, or who wants to read about a plethora of amazing feminist figures from the past.

'I am a Suffragette because for the first time in my life, I feel as though I have a purpose, a goal. I feel as though I am useful. I am powerful. I am doing the job I was put on this earth to do.'

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.
<i>Things a Bright Girl Can Do</i> is funny, warm, inspiring, questioning, and angry in the very best way. Everyone should read this book.