
Normal Women
Making history for 900 years
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Narrated by:
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Hannah Berchtold
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By:
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Philippa Gregory
About this listen
The bestselling, critically acclaimed new women’s history book from Philippa Gregory for 2025 – adapted for teen and YA readers!
Today, when we think of women of the past, we often think of the 1800s and 1900s – crinolines and stage coaches, bonnets and balls – a time when women were told they were naturally inferior to men, and must stay at home while men went out to work and have fun.
HUGE MISTAKE! There is so much more to women’s history than bonnets and big dresses! Ordinary women have been doing extraordinary things FOR EVER – it just didn’t make the history books (written by men!).
Join multi-award-winning author Philippa Gregory as she tells the story of ordinary English women, making history for 900 years. Meet farmers, highwaywomen, pirates, ‘female husbands’, slaves, soldiers, criminals, writers, inventors, rioters and more – protesting, working, playing, taking risks, getting rich (and getting even!). Their story is one of ingenuity, diversity, rebellion, survival – and sisterhood.
Adapted by Philippa Gregory from her best-selling, critically acclaimed Normal Women. This edition for younger readers has simplified, age-tailored content, delivered in bitesize sections.
Read by Hannah Berchtold and Philippa Gregory.
PRAISE FOR NORMAL WOMEN (teen edition):
‘Impressively researched, by turns inspiring and chilling … brilliantly told’ – Cressida Cowell
‘This book is redemption for unsung female heroes. Prepare to feel aghast, proud and inspired’ – Geri Halliwell
‘Uplifting and empowering’ – Edwina Dunn, The Female Lead
PRAISE FOR NORMAL WOMEN (main edition):
A NEW STATESMEN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
‘A lasting work of social history’ THE TIMES
‘A genuinely new history of our nation’ DAN JONES
‘This celebration of women is a triumph of popular history’ SPECTATOR
'Philippa Gregory uses all her bestseller skills to weave a narrative with pace' ANTONIA FRASER
‘You’ll lose count of the number of things you learn about women and their skewed place in history … the book reframes the past … an essential read’ INDEPENDENT, FIVE-STAR REVIEW
©2025 Philippa Gregory (P)2025 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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By: Philippa Gregory
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Zelda's Cut
- By: Philippa Gregory
- Narrated by: Emilia Fox
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For years, Isobel Latimer has composed serious novels for serious people, but to dwindling acclaim and ever-more dwindling gain. Now her husband is ill and she must carry their financial burden alone, and in secret. But if the public don’t want careful moral fables any longer, why not provide an outrageous tale of sex and satanism, and an author to match? The incomparable, uncontrollable Zelda de Vere is born.
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the narration was seamless, the story suspensefully captivating
- By DeAnna DeLeon-Lahman on 06-23-24
By: Philippa Gregory
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The Lady of the Rivers
- By: Philippa Gregory
- Narrated by: Bianca Amato
- Length: 19 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jacquetta always has had the gift of second sight. As a child visiting her uncle, she met his prisoner, Joan of Arc, and saw her own power reflected in the young woman accused of witchcraft. They share the mystery of the tarot card of the wheel of fortune before Joan is taken to a horrific death. Jacquetta understands the danger for a woman who dares to dream. Jacquetta is married to the Duke of Bedford, English regent of France, and he introduces her to a mysterious world of learning and alchemy.
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By: Philippa Gregory
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- Narrated by: Bianca Amato
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
In her essay on Jacquetta, Philippa Gregory uses original documents, archaeology and histories of myth and witchcraft to create the first-ever biography of the young duchess who was to survive two reigns and two wars to become the first lady at two rival courts. David Baldwin, established author on the Wars of the Roses, tells the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the first commoner to marry a king of England for love, and Michael Jones, fellow of the Royal Historical Society, writes of Margaret Beaufort, the almost-unknown matriarch of the House of Tudor. The Women of the Cousins’ War will appeal to all.
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By: Philippa Gregory, and others