I received an e-ARC of this book from Net Galley.

I DNFed this book about 60% in cause I got bored.

Phyllida Scrivens’ book feels very lightweight. As a biography, it’s embarrassingly thin – the biographies are little more than sketches, and quite disjointed – what’s worse, two of them have as much emphasis on the women’s husbands as on the women themselves; as a local history, it’s sadly lacking in historical context – given it’s being published in the year that marks a century since *some* women were awarded the right to vote for the first time, I expected at least some discussion of that, and also a look at what sort of reception the suggestion for a ‘lady Lord Mayor’ received back in the 1920s when it was first mooted. I cannot imagine it received 100% support, given the misogyny prevalent in politics at both national and local levels. The book also lacks any comparison to other cities that have had ‘lady Lord Mayors: 22 other English cities have the same right to have a Lord Mayor, but there’s not even a passing mention of this fact, nor any kind of data on how many ‘lady Lord Mayors’ each of those cities have had.

I am unclear who, precisely, the intended audience for this book is: I suppose it might appeal to citizens of Norwich who aren’t very interested in either history or biography. At best, I’d describe it as a souvenir book, and I can only hope that others find it of greater interest than I did.

https://themondayreview.wordpress.com/2018/02/12/the-lady-lord-mayors-of-norwich-1923-2017-phyllida-scrivens/

This was an informative book about the women who have been Lord Mayor in Norwich, England. It was interesting to learn the backgrounds of the women who have held this position. I wasn’t necessicarily the target audience for this particular book, as I have very little knowledge of the role of a Lord Mayor and Norwich. This would potentially be more interesting, I would think to people within Britain and especially in and around Norwich. With that said, I did enjoy learning bout the women who held this position. The work these women did prior to obtaining this title, is very useful for young women aspiring to grow in any career. I was most pleased, being a women, that these women worked hard and supported their community in various ways. They weren’t given this title just because they were women. An interesting book.

I'm from Norwich and it was a great way to learn more about this fine city. It was an interesting read and I left it learning more about the politics of Norwich women.

You do not need to have an association with Norwich to enjoy this interesting and illuminating book covering the lives and experiences of the 17 female Lord Mayors that cover the period from 1923 to 2017. (remember equal female suffrage was not finally granted until 1928.). I have only been to Norwich once but once I started reading this book I was enthralled by the personal stories and backgrounds contained in the biographies of these public spirited and remarkable women. They came from various social classes which incorporated membership of the famous Colman (mustard) family and also a war refugee. As is pointed out Norwich has had more female first citizens than any other comparable city and this is testament to it's forward thinking and radical political leanings which I was not aware of before reading this book.

Each chapter contains a biography of the Lord Mayor including their families history which helps to explain in many cases their political and social outlook. This is a remarkably honest and frank portrait of these women and instances of discourse and conflict are not avoided. There are some remarkably poignant moments, two in particular concern the onset of early dementia during the term of office causing much concern during a royal visit and the return of cancer during another. What struck me was that in every case each woman irrespective of what party allegiance she had not only devoted themselves to political office but were also involved with many local voluntary and charitable institutions. They were selfless and public spirited and in the forefront of the road to gender equality.

The history of the civic office and the regalia surrounding it is explored and the mayoral highlights are recorded at the end of each chapter. At the end of the book there is a photograph section.

At a time when it can be argued that the role of local government is increasingly under pressure this book is a timely reminder of it's importance and a fitting record to the lives of these remarkable women. I would recommend this to all those who have an interest in gaining a greater knowledge of the social and historical developments within our society and of course if you are lucky enough to be a citizen of Norwich then this is a must read.

I come from Norwich and I am active in the politics of the city so when this book appeared on NetGalley I was pretty damned please, this is the book for me I thought, and I was very very right.

This book collects short biographies of the women who have been mayor of Norwich, sharing how they ended up in the city and what they did when in the robes, giving honest and frank accounts of their time in office. Phyllida Scrivens writes these women with passion and care that makes this book sometimes emotional but such a fantastic book.

The biographies are a combination of sourced materials and personal adnecdotes, the book certainly covering the excellent range of people and personalities that have been mayor of the ‘fine city’ we call Norwich from people who have served on the council and from the Lady Mayors themselves which makes for entertaining reading.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Norwich’s history, but also anyone who would like an insight into one of the more progressive cities in the country. Books such as this make me really proud I live in this city and it makes me want to delve into the sources in this book and know it a lot better than I do!