Showing results by publisher "Hodder & Stoughton" in Women

Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was 'just' an ordinary housewife, when clearly she wasn't? As Lucy Worsley says, 'She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern'. Her life was 'modern' too: she went surfing in Hawaii, she loved fast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, which helped her through devastating mental illness. So why—despite all the evidence to the contrary—did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure?

When Queen Mary died in 1953, James Pope-Hennessy was commissioned to write an official biography of her - unusual for a Queen Consort. Queen Mary's life, contrary to popular belief, was essentially dramatic, and she played a far more important and influential role in the affairs of the British monarchy than her public image might have otherwise suggested. Using material from the Royal Archives, private papers and Queen Mary's personal diaries and letters, Pope-Hennessy's biography was a remarkable portrait of a remarkable woman and received rave reviews across the press.

One of the most beautiful and brilliant women of her time, Gladys Deacon dazzled as much as she puzzled the glittering social circles in which she moved. Born in Paris to American parents in 1881, she suffered a traumatic childhood after her father shot her mother's lover dead. Educated in America, she returned to Europe, where she captivated and inspired some of the greatest literary and artistic names of the Belle Époque.

'There are certain women,' Truman Capote wrote, 'who, though perhaps not born rich, are born to be rich.' These women captivated and enchanted Capote - he befriended them, received their deepest confidences, and ingratiated himself into their lives. From Barbara 'Babe' Paley to Lee Radziwill (Jackie Kennedy's sister) they were the toast of mid-century New York, each beautiful and distinguished in her own way. For years, Capote had been trying to write what he believed would be his magnum opus, Answered Prayers.

As one of the world's leading experts on disaster, Lucy Easthope has been at the centre of the most seismic events of the last few decades - advising on everything from the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami to the 7/7 bombings, the Salisbury poisonings, the Grenfell fire and the COVID-19 pandemic. She has travelled across the world in this unusual role, seeing the very worst that people have to face and finding that even the most extreme of situations, we find the very best of humanity. In her moving memoir, she reveals what happens in the aftermath.

Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon, wife of Prime Minister Anthony Eden, once famously said: 'For the past few weeks I have really felt as if the Suez Canal was flowing through my drawing-room.' With her impressive intellect and acerbic wit, she was a highly influential muse to many leading figures over several decades.

From royalty to suffragettes and from campaigners to contemporary rebels, Sky News Presenter Sophy Ridge explains the ways that women have changed the face of politics. Sophy Ridge has uncovered the extraordinary stories of the women who have shaped British politics. Never has the role of women in the political world ever been more on the news agenda, and Sophy has interviewed current and former MPs to gain exclusive insight into the role women play in politics at the highest level.

Jennifer Shahade, a two-time US Women's Chess Champion, spent her teens and twenties travelling the world playing chess. Tournaments have taken her from Istanbul to Moscow, and introduced her to players from Zambia to China. In this ultra male-dominated sport, Jennifer found shocking sexism, as well as an incredible history of the top female players that has often been ignored. But she also found friendships, feminism and hope. Through her own story, as well as in-depth profiles of pioneers of the game, Jennifer invites us into the extremely competitive world of chess.

In 2021, Emma Raducanu shocked and charmed the tennis world as she raced to the US Open title with a smile on her face. But how did a little-known 18-year-old from Kent become the first ever qualifier to win a Major? Now Mike Dickson, who as tennis correspondent of the Daily Mail was one of the few journalists present in New York to see her lift the trophy, reveals what it took to become Britain's first woman Grand Slam champion since Virginia Wade in 1977.

In Ruth Davidson's Yes She Can we meet world-beating women from fields as diverse as science, politics, the military, business and sport. They share their own journeys to the top - whether that's becoming Prime Minister, winning an Olympic gold medal or teaching male special forces how to fight. They share the bad times, too, the challenges faced and difficulties to hurdle, explaining what they've learned along the way. We also see the author's own path as she tracks the societal shifts that have seen women advance - and discuss how far we've still got to go.

The life story of Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr and a singular 20th-century American civil and human rights activist. Born in 1927 in the Deep South, Coretta Scott always felt called to a special purpose. After an awakening to political and social activism at college, Coretta went on to study at the New England Conservatory of Music, where she met Martin Luther King Jr - the man who would one day become her husband.