Etta Lemon cover art

Etta Lemon

The Woman Who Saved the Birds

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Etta Lemon

By: Tessa Boase
Narrated by: Tessa Boase
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About this listen

Previously titled Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather.

A heroine for our times, Etta Lemon campaigned for 50 years against the worldwide slaughter of birds for extravagantly feathered hats. Her legacy is the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (the RSPB), grown from an all-female pressure group of 1889 with the splendidly simple pledge: Wear No Feathers.

Etta’s long battle against ‘murderous millinery’ triumphed with the Plumage Act of 1921 - but her legacy has been eclipsed by the more glamorous campaign for the vote, led by the elegantly plumed Emmeline Pankhurst.

This gripping narrative explores two formidable heroines and their rival overlapping campaigns. Moving from the feather workers’ slums to high society, from the first female political rally to the rise of the eco feminist, it restores Etta Lemon to her rightful place in history - the extraordinary woman who saved the birds.

©2018 Tessa Boase (P)2018 Audible, Ltd Animals Biological Sciences Gender Studies Historical Outdoors & Nature Science Social Sciences Women Thought-Provoking

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All stars
Most relevant  
I knew a lot about the fight for women’s suffrage already but nothing about the history of the RSPB or the prolific feather industry of the late Victorian era. The book gives a fascinating insight into other political struggles of the time and juxtaposes them against a backdrop of female emancipation. It encourages the reader to consider all sides of the various arguments and leaves us to make up our minds about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, both in relation to the fight for the vote and the fight to prohibit ‘murderous millenary’. Highly recommend this to anyone who thinks they knows about the suffragettes or the origins of the RSPB!

Fascinating Listen

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Beautifully written and read. An incredible story of welfare and rights. The parallels and overlaps between Etta Lemon’s campaign and the suffrage movement is particularly poignant.

Beautiful & brilliant

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Prior to hearing this biography, I was completely ignorant of Etta Lemon & her (many) accomplishments. That educational discrepancy has, thankfully, been corrected by listening to this amazing story - so intricately researched & completely without bias.
The ONLY audiobook i've listened to, in entirety, immediately after finishing!

So good, I listened twice

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I knew absolutely nothing about Etta Lemon starting this book, simply intrigued about who she was and how she was connected to birds. What a fabulous unknown narrative….. the weaving in of her links with the suffrage movement but from an anti suffrage perspective was very interesting alongside a back drop of society at the time and it’s attitudes towards women. Loved this book, such descriptive narrative I could literally visualise almost every scene. Read passionately by the author herself. Thoroughly enjoyable!

What an absolutely amazing story!

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This is so beautifully written and narrated. I felt at different times moved, fascinated, educated, and outraged in this account of Etta Lemon's life. I'm so glad I got to know her and I now feel as though I do. Thank you for taking the time and the care to write this for us Tessa Boase. I'm off to read your other book now.

Such a wonderful book!

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Thoroughly enjoyed this book which filled many a gap in my historical knowledge and brought to life a formidable character with unfaltering focus and love of birds. Thank you for celebrating her life and admirable cause which gives us a stronghold in today’s wildlife conservation and preservation.

Fascinating portrait of a largely unknown conservationist

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Wonderfully researched and written and beautifully narrated by the author - this audiobook is a real treat. It’s a fascinating look into the history and characters behind the RSPB and how they interlink with the women’s suffrage movement. I particularly enjoyed the narration by the author. One could argue that the author is the person who knows their work best and is therefore best placed to read the book but this only works if someone is a gifted narrator as well as a wonderful writer as Tessa Boase is. It must have been a fascinating experience to do the research on this book. There are so many interesting little details included that round out the characters. I can’t recommend this highly enough.

The perfect audiobook

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Well written and performed by Tessa Boase. We rarely hear about women’s history and thus book is an absolute treat.

Unsung hero’s

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So much I didn’t know before listening to this. It was excellent. Highly recommend to all

Mrs Pankhurst

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The title suggests a biography but the book is more than that. I would suggest that it is mistitled, nonetheless, an important and quite worthwhile read.

Biography or a social history?

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