Local author Rosemary Hayward joins us to discuss her new historical novel Strait Lace, which delves into the women's Suffragette movement in England in the early 1900s. 

Light refreshments will be provided. Registration is recommended to help us plan refreshments, but not required. Register Below.

It is 1905. Edwardian England. Harriet Loxley is the daughter of a vicar and a member of a prominent Nottingham lace-making family. She spends her days receiving the ladies of the parish and supervising her older sister's children. She also plays cricket with her brother, scours the countryside for botanical specimens, and never misses an opportunity to argue the case for political power for women.

Given the chance to visit the House of Commons, Harriet seizes it. The occasion is the second reading of a bill bringing in votes for women. But the life-changing moment for Harriet is not the passing of the bill, which fails. It is meeting the formidable Pankhurst women. 

When a surprise source of funds allows Harriet to study biology at prestigious Bedford College, London, she has her chance to be at the heart of the fight. From marching in the street, to speaking to hostile crowds, to hurling stones through windows, just how far will Harriet go?

Rosemary Hayward was born in Hertfordshire, England, and studied English at Hertford College, Oxford. Since then she has worked in Oxford, Nottingham, London, Bracknell and Santa Cruz, California, where she now lives. She likes history, paintings, stately homes, churches, murder mysteries, gardens, live theatre, maps and numbers. Straight Lace is her second novel and the first of the Loxley Hall books.

You can also join Rosemary Hayward for further discussion at Steel Bonnet Brewing Company after this event. This further discussion is not sponsored by SCPL.