Pure Wit

It’s a gripping read, wonderfully researched and puts Cavendish back into the literary history books where she belongs. I loved it. * Kate Mosse * Fascinating * William Boyd * Well-written, well-researched, interesting and peppy. * The Observer * 5 STARS... Margaret Cavendish was a woman out of time. This blazing biography does her proud * The Telegraph * Pure Wit is thorough and scholarly * Literary Review * [An] erudite and entertaining book * The Spectator * Scholarly, articulate, and never less than fascinating, this is a sensational debut. * Alice Loxton * A stellar debut. Francesca Peacock is as bold, bright and witty as her subject. Margaret Cavendish sears through every page and so does her blazing world. * Jessie Childs * This is historical biography as it should be written: intelligent and nuanced, witty and thoroughly riveting. * Lucasta Miller * A fascinating book on a fascinating woman, who was not the “crazy duchess” of hostile legend, but a daring feminist pioneer. * Penelope Corfield * Perceptive and nuanced. A blazing account of a blazing woman. * Holly Kyte * [Peacock's] enjoyable book is enriched by accounts of other women who lived remarkably in those remarkable times. * The Times * Francesca Peacock adroitly recounts Cavendish’s ordeals as a monarchist under Cromwell, her years in exile in Paris, her supportive marriage, her ennoblement and fame. * New Statesman * [A] sparky celebration of a remarkable woman * Financial Times *