The Women’s Room was very good and an eye-opener but I was put off by the racism. I’m really pleased that Mary put up that comment. French’s work has assisted me to gain a better understanding of how patriarchy operates and for that I thank her.

The methods used were/are different but the end result is still the same – namely men are supposedly superior and women’s place was/is to serve men’s interests and needs. French did succeed in her 4 volume of From Eve To Dawn was in providing a documentation of how differing cultures and countries all engaged in subordinating and controlling women. French the subject matter was an overview not one of detailed analysis relating to women’s lives globally. I have also read From Eve To Dawn – yes all four volumes and whilst some criticism was levied at Ms. The War On Women documented for me, the various ways women over the centuries have been constantly dismissed, devalued and ignored by men simply because women are female. I have read Marilyn French’s book The War on Women and also Beyond Morals both of which were very well written and influenced me immensely. I’ve got to admit I’ve not actually read any of French’s work, so I can’t really say much more about it myself, but Cath Elliot has posted a book review of The Women’s Room, from when she read the novel for the first time aged 15.

One of her most recent works was From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women, which she was working on for two decades along with a team of researchers. Women all over the world seized on the book, which sold more than 20 million copies and was translated into 20 languages. The book was partly informed by her own experience of leaving an unhappy marriage and helping her daughter deal with the aftermath of being raped. Her first and best-known novel, The Women’s Room, released in 1977, traces a submissive housewife’s journey of self-discovery following her divorce in the 1950s, describing the lives of Mira Ward and her friends in graduate school at Harvard as they grow into independent women. The New York Times’ obituary says she died of a heart attack: Feminist novelist Marilyn French died this weekend, aged 79.

The Women's Room by Marilyn French