Natasha Walter

Un libro muy polémico y de actualidad, una tesis feminista para el siglo XXI • Denuncia los excesos de la telebasura, la obsesión con el culto al cuerpo, la "sexualización" de la infancia, dentro de lo que la autora llama "el nuevo sexismo", del que son tan responsables las mujeres como los hombres. • Escrito con sentido común, de forma ágil, basado en muchas entrevistas personales de la autora, muy pegado a la actualidad social (no un ensayo feminista "universitario" y doctrinario)

Wife.Mother.Spy.A double life is no life at all.Since the disappearance of her husband in 1951, Laura Leverett has been living in limbo with her daughter in Geneva. All others see is her conventional, charming exterior; nobody guesses the secret she is carrying.Her double life began years ago, when she stepped on to the boat which carried her across the Atlantic in 1939. Eager to learn, and eager to love, she found herself suddenly inspired by a young Communist woman she met on the boat. In London she begins to move between two different worlds from the urbane society of her cousins and their upper class friends, to the anger of those who want to forge a new society. One night at a party she meets a man who seems to her to combine both worlds, but who is hiding a secret bigger than she could ever imagine.Impelled by desire, she finds herself caught up in his hidden life. Love grows, but so do fear and danger. This is the warm-blooded story of the Cold War. The story of a wife whose part will take her from London in the Blitz, to Washington at the height of McCarthyism, to the possible haven of the English countryside. Gradually she learns what is at stake for herself, her husband, and her daughter; gradually she realises the dark consequences of her youthful idealism.Sweeping and exhilarating, alive with passion and betrayal, A Quiet Life is the first novel from a brilliant new voice in British fiction.

Wife. Mother. Spy. Eighteen-year-old Laura Leverett arrives from America for a new life in England. At the side-lines of her cousin's glamorous gatherings, Laura hungers for someone with whom she can discuss the new political ideas sweeping through London. Edward Last is the kindred spirit Laura has been waiting for. But the secret he is carrying will test Laura's ideals to their limits and take them across oceans before tearing them apart...

Doscientos años después de la aparición de los primeros movimientos feministas, asistimos a una mutación sorprendente. Dos discursos aparentemente irrefutables, el de la libre elección y el de la biologia, han derivado respectivamente en un nuevo sexismo y un nuevo determinismo que contribuyen a fijar los estereotipos sobre el comportamiento femenino y masculino. Por un lado, "la imagen de la perfeccion femenina a la que las mujeres deberian aspirar esta (cada vez mas) definida por el atractivo sexual", un atractivo cuya formulacion determina, trasladandola a toda la sociedad, la propia industria del sexo. Esta situacion se justifica sistematicamente con el argumento de que se trata de "elecciones" que realizan las propias mujeres. Por otro lado, "la conviccion de que "la quimica y la estructura del cerebro" y "la inclinacion genetica" explican el comportamiento femenino estereotipado sirve no solo para explicar como aprenden y juegan las niñas pequeñas, sino tambien para justificar las desigualdades que encontramos en la vida adulta".Pero esas "elecciones" podrian no ser tan libres, y los "descubrimientos cientificos" podrian no ser tan concluyentes. Walter cuestiona la validez de ambos discursos basandose, en gran parte, en la cronica de su impacto en la sociedad britanica.

A fascinating story of courage, doubt and defiance across three generationsSARAH WATERSA fierce and beautiful bookEDMUND DE WAALHeartfelt and upfront... A grieving daughter rediscovers her mothers political past BLAKE MORRISON, GuardianA compelling reconstruction of her mothers life as a young anti-nuclear activist defying her suburban parentsCATHERINE TAYLOR, Financial TimesEloquent, piercing, gloriously humane PHILIPPE SANDSAfter the sudden death of her mother at age 75, Natasha Walter was thrown into a time of bewilderment and sadness. It was only when she began to search back through Ruths history, that she began to understand how her life led to death by her own hand. She learns that Ruth had been brought up to be a conventional young woman, but chose to take huge risks and even break the law for her beliefs in the nuclear disarmament movement of the 1960s. Reaching further back she explores the history of Ruths parents, and the story of her grandfather who, as part of the anti-Nazi resistance in the 1930s in Germany, was imprisoned for three years and then went on the run across Europe, finally finding safety in England.Honest about loss, this memoir also searches for what is valuable in the legacy of a family who lived through some of the great crises of the twentieth century. Without false hope, and with honest passion, Natasha Walter shows us why, even when success is far from assured, it is always important to stand up for what you believe.

I once believed that we only had to put in place the conditions for equality for the remnants of old-fashioned sexism in our culture to wither away. I am ready to admit that I was wrong.Empowerment, liberation, choice. Once the watchwords of feminism, these terms have now been co-opted by a society that sells women an airbrushed, highly sexualised and increasingly narrow vision of femininity. Drawing on a wealth of research and personal interviews, LIVING DOLLS is a straight-talking, passionate and important book that makes us look afresh at women and girls, at sexism and femininity - today.

Wife.Mother. Spy. A double life is no life at all. Since the disappearance of her husband in 1951, Laura Leverett has been living in limbo with her daughter in Geneva. All others see is her conventional, charming exterior; nobody guesses the secret she is carrying. Her double life began years ago, when she stepped on to the boat which carried her across the Atlantic in 1939. Eager to learn, and eager to love, she found herself suddenly inspired by a young Communist woman she met on the boat. In London she begins to move between two different worlds from the urbane society of her cousins and their upper class friends, to the anger of those who want to forge a new society. One night at a party she meets a man who seems to her to combine both worlds, but who is hiding a secret bigger than she could ever imagine. Impelled by desire, she finds herself caught up in his hidden life. Love grows, but so do fear and danger. This is the warm-blooded story of the Cold War. The story of a wife whose part will take her from London in the Blitz, to Washington at the height of McCarthyism, to the possible haven of the English countryside. Gradually she learns what is at stake for herself, her husband, and her daughter; gradually she realises the dark consequences of her youthful idealism. Sweeping and exhilarating, alive with passion and betrayal, A Quiet Life is the first novel from a brilliant new voice in British fiction.

GLOBAL IN SCOPE, FEARLESS IN TONE AND DARING ABOUT WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN NEXTThe world is on fire, and this is the book we need in this momentANGELA SAINI, author of THE PATRIARCHSFantastic and timely . . . I highly recommend this book to all womenZAHRA JOYA, author of THE VANISHING GIRL OF KABULAcross the world, women are facing backlash. Authoritarian states, online misogyny and climate breakdown are creating growing dangers for women, as their safety is being threatened and their freedoms are under attack.Today, feminism is trapped in a cycle of consumerism and sold to women as individual empowerment. The result is that women are struggling to build connections with one another and with the world around them. How can women defend their rights and freedoms in this dangerous world? In the urgent Feminism for a World on Fire, Natasha Walter moves decisively beyond individualism to build a vision of a rooted feminism that can connect womens liberation to other movements for equality and environmental protection. A world where women can thrive together on a flourishing planet may sometimes seem like a distant dream - but it is still within our grasp.With clarity and courage, in this passionate and compelling book, Natasha Walter finds a thread of real hope in the dark.