Spotlight 25-26

WEEK A

Women’s History Month Since 1987, Women's History Month has been marked annually, honouring countless women's overlooked contributions to culture and society, and putting a spotlight on gender inequality. It coincides with International Women's Day , taking place on 8th March . With this theme in mind we’ve listed a few of our favourite books below.

Women’s History Month Spotlight: Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) Fiction Books of the Week Maggie O’Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait is a richly evocative and ultimately inspiring tale of Renaissance Italy, following the young Lucrezia de’ Medici as she is married off to the suave - and possibly dangerous - Alfonso d’Este. The novel powerfully explores the fates of aristocratic women in 16 century Italy, who must find their own inner force despite the pressure of male-dominated culture. Epic in scope but intimate in tone, Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing follows the bloodlines of two sisters - one sold into slavery and the other a slave trader's wife - through seven generations and across three continents. th Non-Fiction Books of the Week From tenth-century Japan to twentieth-century France, our non-fiction choices are sure to inspire. Julie Des Jardins’ The Madame Curie Complex is a fascinating look at how the myth of the “lone male genius” has overshadowed the work of women scientists, including Marie Curie and Rosalind Franklin. The Kagero Diary , written by an aristocratic woman known only to us Michitsuna's Mother, is an autobiographical text that gives readers access to a woman's experience of a thousand years ago. Vivid and honest, the diary is a founding work of Japanese classical literature which influenced generations of Japanese writers. Words

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Rosalind Franklin was a brilliant experimental scientist who used her expertise in x-ray crystallography to transform our understanding of the molecular structure of DNA and viruses. Working with James Watson and Francis Crick in the 1950s, she was instrumental in the discovery of the structure of DNA - tellingly, it is the two men who are more frequently referred to as the “fathers of DNA”. A fascinating biography of Franklin is available to borrow from the library.

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