Things a Bright Girl Can Do

Sally Nicholls

Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2019, National Book Award, Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards and the YA Book Prize

Through rallies and marches, in polite drawing rooms and freezing prison cells and the poverty-stricken slums of the East End, three courageous young women join the fight for the vote.

Evelyn is seventeen, and though she is rich and clever, she may never be allowed to follow her older brother to university. Enraged that she is expected to marry her childhood sweetheart rather than be educated, she joins the Suffragettes, and vows to pay the ultimate price for women's freedom.

May is fifteen, and already sworn to the cause, though she and her fellow Suffragists refuse violence. When she meets Nell, a girl who's grown up in hardship, she sees a kindred spirit. Together and in love, the two girls start to dream of a world where all kinds of women have their place.

But the fight for freedom will challenge Evelyn, May and Nell more than they ever could believe. As war looms, just how much are they willing to sacrifice?

Reviews

"Nicholls has brought alive the young women of the past to empower the next generation"
Alex O'Connell - The Times, Children's Book of the Week

"Each voice is distinct, resonant and authentic... uniquely special"
Imogen Russell Williams - Guardian

"Romantic and inspiring"
Nicolette Jones - Sunday Times, Best Books of 2017

"[A] chocolate box of a novel ... books such as this are all the more to be prized"
Telegraph

"A perfect balm to a frustrating world"
Buzzfeed

"Timely, informative and hugely enjoyable... the book excels at what fiction is best at: inviting empathy and understanding for others"
Irish Times

"Things A Bright Girl Can Do is relevant for every generation"
Evening Standard

"A richly textured novel"
Geraldine Brennan - Observer, Best books of 2017

"Inspiring and infuriating in equal measures, Things A Bright Girl Can Do is an utterly captivating novel. Sally Nicholls deftly weaves history and politics into the narrative with such a lightness of touch, it was impossible to stop reading. Immensely enjoyable"
Louise O'Neill

"Fantastic. Conveys all the intricacies of the political and social situation in a way that's vivid, hard-hitting, funny and emotionally compelling. It feels like we're living it, rather than just learning about it."
Frances Hardinge

"Hurrah for Sally! This is a lovely and engrossing novel about three girls caught up in the Suffragette movement and WW1. It's Sarah Waters for teens, pitch-perfect, historically accurate, very romantic and a jolly good read."
Robin Stevens

"Tough, unsentimental and well realised"
Amanda Craig - New Statesman, Best Books of 2017