Fenwomen

A Portrait of Women in an English Village

Mary Chamberlain, Alexandra Harris

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Paperback

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English

Virago Press Ltd
11 September 2025

20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; Social & cultural history; Oral history; Rural communities; Gender studies: women

'Full of dignity, courage and humour, and as fresh and insightful as the day it was written, FENWOMEN is a vital portrait of rural women's lives - not only as they were lived in the 1970s in one Cambridgeshire village, but in the generations before it, all over the country, and reaching forward into today's world, too' MELISSA HARRISON

Mary Chamberlain's vivid social and oral history of an isolated village in the Cambridgeshire Fens was the first book ever published by Virago. Told through the voices and lives of women, whose memories span over one hundred years, it provides a unique portrait of a working-class, rural community where intermarriage was common, most inhabitants lived all their lives in the village, and until the middle of the twentieth century a single family owned almost all the land.

50th anniversary edition - now a Virago Modern Classic with a new introduction by Alexandra Harris

By: Mary Chamberlain
Introduction by: Alexandra Harris
Imprint: Virago Press Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 196mm, Width: 126mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 206g
ISBN: 9780349020419
ISBN 10: 0349020418
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 11 September 2025
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Mary Chamberlain is a novelist and historian of Britain and the Caribbean. She is the author of the international best seller, The Dressmaker of Dachau, first published in 2015 by The Borough Press in 2016. It sold to 19 countries, and was a best seller in many of them. Her historical works include Fenwomen: A portrait of women in an English Village'which was the first book to be published by Virago Press in 1975, and was the basis for Caryl Churchill's award-winning play, Fen. She is emeritus professor of Caribbean history at Oxford Brookes University.