A review by erickibler4
A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert

5.0

This is a superb piece of writing. A book to be savored. Contained within a mere 237 pages is a family saga that jumps back and forth through time like the work of Proust, with a style that recalls Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse". The family springs from Dorothy Trevor Townsend, who starves herself to death to call attention to women's suffrage in 1914. The story is told through her eyes, and through those of her descendants, restless, questing women all, up to the present day. The book raises a lot of questions regarding the place of women in society, using Florence Nightingale as a touchstone. These women seem to feel like outsiders in a society in which they comprise a slight majority. They rebel, as Nightingale did, against being "a continuation", but nevertheless continue in the rebellious path of their matriarch, Dorothy. I have to say though, that these restless, disconnected feelings aren't the province of women alone. Anyone who's lived the human condition should be able to relate.