Normal Women

8. Normal women...are married, divorced and single

The marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert set the template for how we imagine a wedding should be but it wasn’t always about big white frocks. Philippa Gregory explores how married women became the property of their husbands - along with everything they owned and produced. She considers the hidden history of wife sales and female husbands and shines a light on the difficulty women had accessing divorce. Joining Philippa to consider the institutions of marriage, divorce and single life through time are:Laura Bates, writer, activist and founder of the Everyday Sexism projectRachael Lennon, writer, social history curator and author of Wedded Wife: A Feminist History of Marriage <a href="https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/normal-women-900-years-of-making-history-philippa-gregory-1?variant=40255372230734" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History</a> is Philippa Gregory's radical retelling of our nation’s story – not of the rise and fall of kings and the occasional queen, but a history of the millions of women missing from the record: wives and workers, viragoes and angels, female husbands, priests and pirates. Music: When Adam Was First Created - performed by Andy Turner. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color:grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women is a new podcast from HarperCollins, launched to coincide with the publication of this landmark work of scholarship and storytelling, from celebrated novelist and historian Philippa Gregory.  Normal Women is a radical retelling of our nation’s story – not of the rise and fall of kings and the occasional queen – but of social and cultural change, powered by the determination, persistence and effectiveness of women– from 1066 to modern times. This is not another book or podcast about three or four well-known heroines; it is a story about millions of women: those who left records and those who were ‘hidden from history.’ The podcast weaves together Philippa’s narrative history with lively discussions, bringing together historians who are experts in their field, and guests with their own modern perspectives. From popstars to TikTok superstars, groundbreaking campaigners to best selling authors, Philippa welcomes women from all walks of life to look back at the past lives of half the population, and put women where they belong – centre stage. This eight-part series starts on the 26th October, publishing weekly. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color:grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.