TRAILBLAZER

Jane Robinson is brilliant at putting the women back into history and her biography of Barbara Leigh Bodichon a Victorian feminist we should all be grateful to is as entertaining as it is necessary Daisy GoodwinYou have probably not heard of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon but you certainly should have done Name any modern human rights movement and she was a pioneer feminism equal opportunities diversity inclusion mental health awareness Black Lives Matter While her name has been omitted from too many history books it was Barbara that opened the doors for more famous names to walk through And her influence owed as much to who she was as to what she did people loved her for her robust sense of humour cheerfulness and indiscriminate acts of kindness This is a celebration of the life of the founder of Britain s suffrage movement campaigner for equal opportunity in the workplace the law at home and beyond Co founder of Girton the first university college for women a committed activist for human rights fervently anti slavery she was also one of Victorian England s finest female painters Jane Robinson s brilliant new book shines a light on a remarkable woman who lived on her own terms and to whom we owe a huge debt Skillful storytelling and a wa