The Bodyguard Unit

Fabulous tale of choosing yourself over social norms. When maintaining the status quo is easier for those in power and their power is immense, what do you do? Beautifully told story of women embracing Jujitsu from protection of domestic violence to body guard unit for suffragette leader.

Some of my favorite thing about books is learning something new and when I saw this graphic novel written about a historical event I was super excited cause I had never heard of the Bodyguard Unit before coming across this book.

This is the story of The Bodyguard Unit, a group of women who learned Jujitsu to help protect themselves and others from the police during the Women's Suffrage movement in England. The group was taught Jujitsu by Edith Garrud who with her husband ran a dojo which welcomed men and women from all walks of life.

What I Loved:
- Dojo, Edith and her husband ran a dojo who welcomed anyone who wanted to learn Jujitsu, this concept was revolutionary for the time and I loved they focused on the two running the business together
- Actual articles/picture, throughout the story the author chose to include actual newspaper clippings and photos from the time period which help strengthen the story for me
- Learning, I don't know a lot about the Women's Suffrage movement and this was a great opportunity for me to learn something unique about the struggle and now I can't wait to start learning even more
- Growth/Understanding, Edith's husband was very against her helping the Suffragettes but through their experiences individually and together he developed a better understanding of the movement and ended up being one of the biggest supports of the Bodyguard Unit

I will be telling anyone who will listen about this book and recommending it to everyone because I think in the time we are currently living everyone should take the time and learn about how the women before us had to fight for basic rights and we need to continue those traditions.

If you like non-fiction, are interested in the Women's Suffrage movement or just learning about a different part of women's history run don't walk to get your hands on this book!

I loved learning about the real life story of English suffragettes who fought tirelessly for their rights and how one woman’s ability to use jujitsu spread throughout the movement to empower others and enact social change. This was super interesting.

The Bodyguard Unit is an exciting window into the Suffragette movement, and is a fantastic story about women fighting back, literally. Complete with real historical photographs, this graphic novel makes history accessible and is perfect for anyone interested in women's rights.