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Normal Women

Making history for 900 years

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Normal Women

By: Philippa Gregory
Narrated by: Hannah Berchtold, Philippa Gregory
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The bestselling, critically acclaimed new women’s history book from Philippa Gregory – adapted for teen and YA readers!

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH AUDIO AWARDS 2025!

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. Shortlisted for Best Audiobook: Young Adult Books at the British Audio Awards (Speakies).

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 Publishers Biographies Health, Lifestyle & Relationships History & Culture Feel-Good Pirate
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Critic reviews

Early praise for Normal Women: Making History For 900 Years:
'We all know the quote 'he who owns the narrative controls the story' So much of our history has been led and told by men. Gregory rewrites 900 years of history and reveals a path women can be proud of, and build from. What could be more uplifting and empowering?’ – Edwina Dunn, founder of The Female Lead
'This is redemption for the unsung female heroes lost through time. Prepared to feel aghast, proud and inspired when reading this book. Philippa Gregory is more than an author, she is warrior for the ‘normal’, the ordinary, a disruptor who refuses to be silenced, with her pen in hand she has 'slayed' once again.’ – Geri Halliwell
‘Impressively researched, by turns inspiring and chilling, the history of the uphill struggle for women to achieve anything remotely resembling equality over 900 years is brilliantly told for young readers in this book. And older readers. This 58 year old learnt for the first time that a housewife was not entitled to her share of the family money in a divorce until as late as 1996, or that rape within marriage did not become a crime until 1992, and that right here and now in the UK a woman is killed every three days by a man. And what this clear account of the last 900 years of history for 50 percent of the population tells me is that nothing should be taken for granted, and that much more still needs to be fought for.’ – Cressida Cowell
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I didn't realise when reading this that it's a teen-friendly version of a much longer adult non-fiction title. It did feel geared towards a younger audience, with reference more than once of young people and growing up. I loved it anyway.

Once I got used to the audiobook moving swiftly from one anecdote and name to another, I thought this was great. Moving forwards in time over the last 900 years, it's not famous women, it's just 'normal' women and their achievements and experiences in the context of a changing country and society.

Women just getting on with life - sheep shearing, making money, part of Guilds, no longer part of guilds, witches and maids and doctors and scientists. All the little things that every human does, to get by and to achieve something. That's what's collected here, in a great volume of women over nine centuries.

It was inspiring. It was upsetting, seeing oppression. It was amazing - seeing women choosing who they loved, standing up for themselves, taking on roles men say they can't or shouldn't. Moving us all along one baby step at a time. Or just existing and being namechecked for it.

Really wonderful find. I would be interested in the longer version on paper, I may retain more names and details that way.

Dripping with stories and fascinating detail

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Wonderful listen – Hannah Berchtold brings history to life!

I absolutely loved this audiobook. Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women is already a fascinating and important piece of work, but Hannah Berchtold’s narration takes it to another level. She has such a clear, expressive voice, intelligent, warm, and full of subtle emotion. You can feel her respect for the material, and she makes even the most detailed historical passages engaging and alive.

Her pacing is perfect, her tone beautifully balanced between scholarly and conversational, and she somehow manages to make nine centuries of history feel completely human and accessible. I could have listened for hours (and did!).

If you’re thinking about whether to read or listen, listen. Hannah Berchtold makes Normal Women not just informative, but genuinely moving.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Wonderful listen – Hannah Berchtold brings history to life!

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I see this book in its long form of 900 pages has poor reviews. This book more for the young adult market was more than a bite size version and was both stimulating and informative.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The joys of women

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