Things A Bright Girl Can Do

by Sally Nicholls

Interest age: 12 to 17
Reading age: 12+

Published by Andersen Press, 2017

  • Coming-of-age
  • Historical
  • Myths and legends

About this book

Imagine this: having to fight for your right to go to university. Not being given a job just because you’re a girl. Not being allowed to vote for the things you believe in. This is the world where Nell, May and Evelyn live. This is England, 1914.

These three young women are suffragettes, campaigning for equality and the right to vote. They each come from a different part of society and each of them is conflicted, but they all want to change things and want more than is on offer to them. But then a foreign Archduke is assassinated, and suddenly England is at war. Everything changes – but not in the way they hoped or imagined.

Offering a historical snapshot of a society in turmoil, this comprehensive coming-of-age novel is a thought-provoking and highly engaging story of love, life and hope, with strong themes of feminism and equality, social class and divisions, and the massive impacts of the First World War. 

About the author

Sally Nicholls is a prize-winning British children's book author. Nicholls was born and grew up in Stockton-on-Tees, England. On finishing school, Nicholls chose to travel around the world. Nicholls' first three novels all have death as the central theme.

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