Femina

Revelatory... Ramirez shows again and again that dark age Europe was a far more various place than we like to believe

Revelatory... Ramirez shows again and again that dark age Europe was a far more various place than we like to believe

One of Femina 's greatest strengths is that it is not just a collection of medieval heroines, although there are inspirational stories aplenty in its pages, but also a readable and wide-ranging account of the Middle Ages - with the women put back in - that forces us to look at familiar stories in new ways

It's about time these stories had a wider audience. They've been waiting long enough.

Passionate, provocative and brilliant, this book is a firecracker somehow captured between two covers

Beautifully written, wonderfully free-ranging and gloriously original, Femina makes us look into the mists of history in new, exciting and provocative ways. A joyous read

Absolutely brilliant and highly recommended

Janina Ramirez is a born storyteller, and in Femina she is at the peak of her powers. This is bravura narrative history underpinned by passionate advocacy for the women whom medieval history has too often ignored or overlooked. Femina is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the Middle Ages and its place in the modern mind

The women of the Middle Ages, so often silent and inconspicuous in our histories, find voice, agency and justice in this brilliant book

Femina is an important addition to our understanding of a period still - mistakenly - thought to have excluded women from positions of power and significance. Femina skillfully brings out from the shadows the lives of women who ruled, fought, traded, created, and inspired

Spellbinding, passionate, gripping and magnificently fresh in tone, boldly wide in range, elegantly written, deeply researched, Femina is a ground-breaking history of the Middle Ages. It brings the world to life with women at its very heart, centre stage where they belong. What a delight.

Professor Janina Ramirez is a Sunday Times bestselling author, Oxford lecturer, BBC broadcaster and researcher. She is Director of Studies for History of Art at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford, and Visiting Professor in Medieval Studies at the University of Lincoln. She has published widely on medieval history, art and literature, has written both fiction and non-fiction for adults and younger readers. Janina has written and presented documentaries across the world for over 15 years. She is Lifelong President of Gloucester History Festival, and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Royal Society of Arts, Universities of York and Gloucestershire and City Lit. Her book Femina was an instant Sunday Times bestseller.