Emily - London

Graphic political perspective, 1 Jun 2014

This is one of those seamless partnerships where it is difficult to tell where one artist begins and the other finishes. I somehow doubt that Kate Charlesworth just did the colouring in. We know Mary did the research. The artists seem happy to share joint copyright.

The perspective it adopts � shifting the Pankhursts just out of the limelight and reminding you others were involved, and that the debate between violence and non-violence was a real one, and that strong egos and squabbles caused huge rifts � allows a fresh take.

The book feels pitched at a teenage audience � reflecting the age of the protagonists. It reminds you that the campaign for suffrage was not just… Read more

This fell flat for me, 29 May 2014

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Programme (What's this?)

I feel this is fundamentally an unsatisfactory novel. If I had not been expected to review it, I would not have finished it.

Tooly seems fundamentally a disconnected and inconsistent character. A dishonest hustler sits in the same person alongside a bookish, affectionate introvert who watches rather than participates in the world. She is both thoughtful, impractical bookseller and manipulative multiple fraudster. This is a key aspect of the story and as the novel closes we are given some kind of closure and explanation � but as we read the story and experience it live, Tooly fails to experience any contradiction or conflict herself, and appears not to have a conscience, while… Read more

Breadth and credibility, 27 May 2014

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Programme (What's this?)

I�m a convert to James Meek. He really has been in rooms with former IRA terrorists and with malaria researchers. This is a novel that credibly walks you into different conversations round the world. When he describes a tabloid editor going mad, you feel he knows whereof he speaks. When we watch a mother burying her child dead of malaria in Africa, there are small details.

This reminds me of Margaret Drabble at her best in the 1980s � when she was writing State of England novels that stretched further afield. This one catches the arc of science in flux, and ranges from Papua New Guinea to Tanzania to London. Malaria vaccines that �half work� are the news of the moment � even two… Read more