Awww thank you - that's lovely to see. Sx

93000 words long. OMG. I think I might finish this in the next fortnight. The story's speeding up and I've just spent an hour checking through the timeline. Seems ok. A couple of weeks ago I thought this book was going to kill me. Now I'm flying!

It's only cos i was rushing... Both Margaret and her sister Frances are icons!

YES I'M SORRY

ooops 😅

He's in my next book (out in May). I'm kinda fond of him too, the big lummox.

Tx for listening to my chat about historical allies. There are loads more but I'm only giving you a taster. Yes, I've written books. This one, On Starlit Seas, includes John Murray supporting the hell out of Maria Graham. These were some of my favie scenes to write. www.amazon.co.uk/Starlit-Seas...?

The more I read, listen & learn the more I understand that support for women is not gendered. There are brilliant supportive men out there & dreadful misogynistic women. Progress comes from working together (if you're on the right side, obvs) 😂 /7

The John Murray publishing house (run by successive generations of John Murrays) was an ally to female writers incl Jane Austen & Maria Graham. Some booksellers & critics refused to stock books by women.The Murrays advocated & hosted female writers at their prestigeous salon. /6

Charles Rennie Mackintosh said his wife, Mary, was the greater artist. He credited her with 'two thirds' of his architectural achievement (incl his iconic rose motif). Nobody listened, but he said it nonetheless. We need to credit Mary more - just like he said. /5

William Godwin, Mary Wollstencraft's husband, who faced censure from society when he married Mary cos she had a (gasp) illegitimate child. He supported Mary's writing (he fell in love with her because of her writing). After she died he looked after her 2 daughters. /4

Keir Hardy was pro-women's suffrage (unlike Churchill - yuk) & spoke eloquently in the House of Commons about it, asked ministers questions about how suffragettes were treated in prison & attended WPSU events. Thank you, Keir. This is my favie way in which you were a legend. /3

Charles Darwin, who presented Maria Graham's brilliant theory about how to measure earthquakes to the Royal Society on her behalf because they were misogynistic arseholes and wouldn't let her do it herself. Go Charlie! (Maria was right - her theory was groundbreaking) /2

This is an endless genre. My favie is Lorna Moon who came from Strichen in Aberdeenshire. She ended up pals with Mary Pickford and wrote screenplays. Her short stories are the BEST. x

😂