Sarah Gristwood, Author of Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries:
“By and large, I do think that often the diary was the place, the one place where a lot of these women could voice feelings that weren’t accepted or acceptable in their own day.”
Listen in or view the ZOOM of our new The Women’s Eye Podcast with guest host and adventure-travel author Laurie McAndish King. Laurie’s introducing us to author and historian Sarah Gristwood, who has just written a fascinating new book, Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries.
Available also on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube
You met Laurie previously on TWE, where she profiled more than a dozen remarkable authors, and here on The Women’s Eye Podcast when she interviewed award-winning author Anita Gail Jones.
Sarah has written about everything from fifteenth-century history to influential twentieth-century figures like Amy Tan, Susan Sontag, and Elizabeth II. Her books Arbella: England’s Lost Queen and Elizabeth & Leicester were bestsellers.
Today Laurie talks with Sarah about her lifelong commitment to publicizing women’s experiences, and about her latest book. It’s an amazing collection of extracts from more than 100 women’s diaries, and covers the course of 400 years! Here is an example:
“Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good; behave yourself and never mind the rest.”
Beatrix Potter, aged 18, 1884
The book reveals some of the most private thoughts of women like these:
- Civil rights activist Ida B. Wells
- Explorer Freya Stark
- Historical figures Florence Nightingale and Marie Curie
- Prison reformer Elizabeth Fry
- Writers as varied as Emily Bronte, Alice Walker and George Eliot
- And even Emma Thompson and Oprah Winfrey!
What did Sarah learn from all those diary entries? What similarities—and differences—did her research unearth?
Join our conversation to find out what Sarah discovered, including the one emotion that stood out consistently across four centuries of women’s writing. Sarah also shares the way in which creating this book changed her own perspective about our current times
We talk, too, about the importance of understanding women’s history, the relationship between diaries and social media, and the therapeutic value of journaling.
A former film journalist contributing to the Guardian, The Times and the Telegraph, Sarah now broadcasts regularly for Sky News, CNN and the BBC on royal and historical affairs, besides contributing to a number of documentary series such as “Royal House of Windsor” and “Secrets of the National Trust.”
More Quotations from Secret Voices:
“A good cry yesterday morning washed away some of the shadows from my soul.” Helen Keller, 1936
“War is on us this morning…I don’t know why I write this or what I feel, or should feel. All is hovering over us.” Virginia Woolf, 1939
“It’s an odd idea for someone like me to keep a diary.” Anne Frank, 1942
“I’m amazed that I’m on the cover of LIFE Magazine with a title that says I’m the most powerful person. How’d that happen? Feels like someone else.” Oprah Winfrey, 1997
Connect with Sarah Gristwood:
Facebook: sarahgristwood
Instagram: sarah.gristwood
Twitter: sarahgristwood
If you’d like to read more from remarkable women’s voices…
Check out The Women’s Eye anthologies 20 Women Storytellers and 20 Women Changemakers.
Each book is a collection of interviews with women who have made a difference in the world. They reveal passion, setbacks, courage and perseverance; their stories are sure to inspire you!
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