Member Jennifer Holmes publishes new book
Matador has recently published A Working Woman: The Remarkable Life of Ray Strachey by Club Member Jennifer Holmes, whose proposal for the book was shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize in 2015. A leading feminist (and writer) of the early 20th century, Ray Strachey was a close colleague of both Millicent Fawcett and Nancy Astor, remembered in particular for her classic history of the Women’s Movement, The Cause (1928). She played a major role in gaining many women the vote in 1918, stood for Parliament three times, and devoted much of her life to fostering employment opportunities for women. Alongside this she was a working mother with overwhelming family responsibilities and an unusual (some said eccentric) private life on the fringes of the Bloomsbury set. Based on extensive research, the book is the first full biography of Ray Strachey, illuminating not only her fascinating life but also the social and political worlds to which she belonged.