In her excellent new novel, Wendy Louise Bardsley takes the reader on a journey from Yorkshire to London, Wales, and Paris, as she explores the remarkable life of Mary Wollstonecroft. As a young woman, Mary copes with a bullying father, a subjugated mother, sees young friends die in childbirth and from tuberculosis. And whilst her elder brother Ned follows an unfettered path to a career as a lawyer, Mary is deprived of a formal education. All of these experiences combine to shape Mary’s ideals for the improvement of the lot of women, a subject she pursues passionately throughout her adult life.
The author joins us to explore Mary Wollstonecraft's life, explain why she wrote the novel and discuss how Wollstonecraft created an immensely important platform for thoughts about the rights of women. This will be followed by a reading from the novel, a Q&A and a book signing will take place at the end.