Britannia's Daughters: Women of the British Empire

Description

A gripping and fascinating account of the role of women in founding the British Empire. In Britannia's Daughters, bestselling novelist Joanna Trollope examines the contribution of women in building and sustaining the British Empire. She draws on a vast range of sources, including diaries and letters home. She provides a panoramic picture of the countless women who departed Britain for India, Australia, the Far East, Canada and Africa - often in search of opportunities unavailable at home. Here are penniless pioneers and governors' wives, missionaries and prostitutes, explorers and army nurses. They people this book as they peopled the Empire - their astonishing courage and endurance, their remarkable personal stories vividly and enthrallingly recaptured.

Joanna Trollope is the author of many highly acclaimed bestselling novels. She has also written a study of women in the British Empire, Britannia's Daughters, as well as a number of historical novels. Born in Gloucesterhire, she now lives in London. She was appointed OBE in the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours List and CBE in 2019.

Entertaining, moving, consistently gripping... unputdownable -- Val Hennessy * Daily Mail * Lively and well written... she has built up a convincing and moving picture of the role of women in creating the Empire, and in keeping the show on the road -- Mary Warnock * Sunday Telegraph * Trollope uses superb sepia photographs to summon up the great Victorian heroines... who sought in the colonies, and sometimes found, adventure, butterflies, Christian souls or husbands -- Linda Colley * Sunday Times * Illustrates contemporary Victorian attitudes to women vividly... and reminds us of how restricted daily life was for a Victorian lady at home and how squalid and hopeless for the poor... A conscientious and broad-ranging survey -- Alannah Hopkins * Irish Times * Handsomely illustrated... entertaining... Highly recommended * Literary Review *