A Dirty, Filthy Book

Michael Meyer

From Shelf: Books I worked on at Ebury as an editor

London, 1877. A petite young woman stands before an all-male jury, about to risk everything. She takes a breath, and opens her defence.Annie Besant and her confidant Charles Bradlaugh are on trial for the sordid crime of publishing and selling a birth control pamphlet. Remarkably - forty-five years before the first woman will be admitted to the English bar - Annie is defending herself. Before Britain's highest judge she declares it is a woman's right to choose when, and if, to have children. At a time when women were legally and socially subservient to men, Annie's defiant voice was a sensation. The riveting trial scandalised newspapers, captivated the British public and sparked a debate over morals, censorship and sex.Drawing on unpublished archives, private papers and courtroom transcripts - and featuring an incredible cast including Queen Victoria, George Bernard Shaw and London itself - A Dirty, Filthy Book tells the gripping story of a forgotten pioneer who refused to accept the role the Establishment assigned to her. Instead, she chose to resist.