A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023

This is a neglected history. Not a sweeping, definitive, exhaustive history of the world but something quieter, more intimate and particular. A journey, picked out in 101 objects, through the fascinating, too-often-overlooked, manifold histories of women.

Open up this cabinet of curiosities and you'll find objects that have been highly esteemed and others that are humble and domestic. Some (like a sixteenth century glass dildo) are objects of female pleasure, some (a thumbscrew) of female subjugation. There are artefacts of women celebrated by history and of women unfairly forgotten by it; examples of female rebellion and of self-revelation; objects that are inspiring, curious or (like radium-laced chocolate) just fundamentally ill-conceived. In this compendium, Annabelle Hirsch reveals a new history - teeming, unexpected, witty and always illuminating.

Annabelle Hirsch, born in 1986, has German and French roots. She studied art history, dramatics and philosophy in Munich and Paris, and worked as a freelance journalist for FAS, FAZ, ZeitOnline and several other magazines. She writes short stories and translates French literature. She lives in Paris, Rome and Berlin.

Eleanor Updegraff was born in London and studied English Literature, German and Russian at Durham University. She is a literary translator and author, ghostwriter and editor, and reviews books for various publications online and in print. She has lived in Vienna since 2015.