The 1950s were staid, conformist times when men went to offices in suits and hats, and women stayed home in aprons and housedresses and did as they were told. Feminism was an unknown, unnamed concept. Yet, during that era, there were women of grit who operated by choice outside the accepted norms. 

Award-winning journalist Rachel Cooke has created this collection of mini-bios focusing on 10 English women, some of whom were born two centuries ago, to remind us that women’s power has always been around. Cooke’s droll, pressing style is what binds the stories together; no sooner do we embark than we know we will not be disappointed, though every portrait is different, every life depicted complex and, at times, startling.

"Cooke’s droll, pressing style is what binds the stories together; no sooner do we embark than we know we will not be disappointed, though every portrait is different, every life depicted complex and, at times, startling."

Take, for example, Sheila Van Damm. Born to a family that ran a famous music hall, the Windmill, in the heart of Soho, she spent part of World War II as a WAAF, took a driving course and chauffeured officers around London. Having gained a measure of autonomy, she soon found herself at odds with the family, but learned to fly when her domineering father expressed an interest in starting an air charter business. Eschewing marriage (as Cooke puts it, “no one who knew Shelia was ever in any doubt about her sexuality”), she next became a rally car driver, staying behind the wheel for up to 48 hours for thousand-mile courses. She also became a road racer at a time when all motor racing was life-threatening to drivers and fans alike. Sheila loved Nancy Spain, a cross-dressing novelist, who loved Jonnie (Joan Werner Laurie), a formidable managerial figure who developed the groundbreaking magazine, SHE. Or were Jonnie and Sheila the real couple? No one knew for sure, but everyone admired the triad’s whirlwind lifestyle.

Patience Gray was a food writer who could rhapsodize about cooking dandelion and wild boar. Architect Alison Smithson, with her husband, designed some of the more famous “modern” buildings of her time, including a House of the Future with daring plastic chairs and “a series of air locks” in the entryway. Margery Fish wrote a book about fighting her husband into creating a garden, and outlived him to have her own way with the flowers. Sisters-in-law Muriel and Betty Box stood behind the cameras to garner success in the world of film. Archeologist Jacquetta Hawkes cared nothing for convention and caused scandal, even in marriage. Rose Heilbron was England’s first female high court judge, of whom it was said, “It was an education just to hear her speak.”

These remarkable women found themselves at a cultural cusp when “in Britain’s bombed cities people had slipped their moorings,” and the glint of greater freedom for both genders was just visible on the far horizon. For them, though, to pursue careers and unorthodox relationships took unusual courage. Not surprisingly, even Cooke admits she is in awe of their accomplishments and declares, “These are, above all, tales of derring-do.”