Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon

Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon was the most unconventional and influential leader of the Victorian women''s movement. Enormously talented, energetic and original, she was a feminist, law-reformer, painter, journalist, the close friend of George Eliot and a cousin of Florence Nightingale.

As a painter, Barbara is now recognised as a vital figure among Pre-Raphaelite women artists. As a feminist she led four great campaigns: for married women''s legal status, for the right to work, the right to vote and to education.

Making brilliant use of unpublished journals and letters, Pam Hirsch has written a biography that is as lively and powerful as its subject, recreating the woman in all her moods, and placing her firmly in the context of women''s struggle for equality.