Ebury is excited to offer reading groups 10 proofs of A Dirty, Filthy Book by critically-acclaimed author and journalist, Michael Meyer.
Who was Annie Besant? A badass. A battering ram. A woman who inspired the next generation of social reformers. Who among us would not want to live so bold?
London, 1877. A petite young woman stands before an all-male jury, about to risk everything. She takes a breath, and opens her defence.
Annie Besant and her confidant Charles Bradlaugh are on trial for the sordid crime of publishing and selling a birth control pamphlet. Remarkably – forty-five years before the first woman will be admitted to the English bar – Annie is defending herself. Before Britain’s highest judge she declares it is a woman’s right to choose when, and if, to have children. At a time when women were legally and socially subservient to men, Annie’s defiant voice was a sensation. The riveting trial scandalised newspapers, captivated the British public and sparked a debate over morals, censorship and sex.
Drawing on unpublished archives, private papers and courtroom transcripts – and featuring an incredible cast including Queen Victoria, George Bernard Shaw and London itself – A Dirty, Filthy Book tells the gripping story of a forgotten pioneer who refused to accept the role the Establishment assigned to her. Instead, she chose to resist.
“Annie Besant was a freethinker and a half – an indomitable woman who challenged many of the discriminatory views of her day and put all her energies into social change. A great read.”
Prof. Helen Pankhurst CBE, Women’s Rights Campaigner
If you’re interested, please contact Molly Maynard by 23 February but they may be snapped up before this!
