Really well interesting I enjoyed learning about the lives of these women from all different classes.A book that is inspired me to research women’s lives through different times in history,#netgalley#penn&sword,

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. What a fun book to read. I love reading anything about the Tudor period and this book did not disappoint. It was just packed full of information and different woman in the Tudor period. The author did a great job in the research that went into this novel! Highly recommend for all Tudor fans out there!

Overall, seemingly really well researched giving a great insider's peek to women's lives in the Tudor era. Broken down into each facet of a Tudor woman's life and seemed to cover all the bases well.

Some sections seemed to have some awkward transitions from topic to topic but overall flowed nicely.

<I>"London by-law was issued forbidding any man to beat his wife after nine in the evening so as to not disturb his neighbours.</I>

The thing I find most fascinating is how women remained subordinate even after two Queens.

Overall I thought this book was very interesting but I would have loved to learn more about women's health. Menstruation wasn't even mentioned and abortion was mentioned only fleetingly.

The idea of health and medicine being directly related to the elements fire/earth/air/water was so fascinating, I wish more information was included.

Very knowledgeable on the wives during the Tudor era. It went over the lives of their nobility and poverty stricken women. Nice interesting read about how life was like for women during this era.

Women’s Lives In The Tudor Era by Amy McElroy

Women’s Lives In The Tudor Era is an interesting look into just how diverse and hard women in that time period lived. Women had little to no rights, and were considered chattel to both their husbands and fathers, and were often bargained or traded for advantageous matches for the family. Although I knew a lot of information, having always loved this time period and have had a strong fascination for history, this book showed some of the major differences in lifestyles. Rank had so much to do with every aspect of their lives, from the kind of work they preformed, their education if they received them at all, to marriages. It was interesting reading just how much women were expected to compete in a day.

The book is very well written with a myriad of information. The author definitely did her research as the book. I loved how she shed light on a topic often ignored or overshadowed. While the book sometimes felt repetitive, for the most part it was a great learning experience.

'Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era' aims to focus on the life stages of women and the differences experienced by these women due to their social standing.

McElroy divides up women's lives into 9 sections: growing up, adolescence, brides, married life, motherhood, working women, recreation, widowhood and wills left by women. I particularly enjoyed the sections on growing up, brides and working women.

While the educations received by Elizabeth I and Lady Jane Grey are well documented, what was really interesting to learn about were the different educational establishments available such as Dame schools and petty schools, which girls could attend when not helping their families.

Katherine and Mary Grey are both known for falling foul of Elizabeth I for marrying without consent, but the author highlights that the records show that this was a particular problem among the middle classes but that the lower classes could not afford to bring court proceedings.

I hadn't realised how many roles were available to women, that children could be apprenticed by the parish as young as 4 or that this was one of 3 types of service, the others being a contract in husbandry and domestic service.

I would say that McElroy certainly succeeds in her aim, as I came away with a clear understanding of what life was like for Tudor women.

This book was so interesting and made more so by the thorough research of the author
It was very easy to follow. A great read that I know I will read again

An interesting book for anyone interested in history, particularly history of women. Well written with information about lots of different lifestyles. I wish there were images included for interest but overall very good.

This was a fascinating read about the lives of Tudor women. Highly informative, the author breaks down the chapters based on different life stages, starting in childhood and ending in widowhood, wills and death. She not only focused on the nobility, but women of all social classes and how life for them at each stage varied.

'Women's Lives in the Tudor Era' is a must have for any history, especially Tudor, enthusiast. It's engaging and easy to read, making it accessible to anyone, regardless of how much previous knowledge they have on the time period.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-Arc of this novel.

Thank you for the e-ARC of this book.

This book provided a broad overview of a Woman's life during the Tudor times. I found it to be well organised, chronologically describing the main events through a woman's lifetime; focusing on childhood, marriage, work, childbirth and death. Though such a large subject, especially when taking into considerations the differences between the classes experiences, it left little time to delve deeper than brief descriptions.

A very well researched and referenced book, I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in this historical period, however I think I was hoping for a little more depth to the discussions.
I found the book to be a little repetitive at times, and there were also occasional paragraphs of text written as a direct copy from the original from the time; including the old English spellings and turn of phrase which I personally didn't care for.

Personally, I really enjoy books about this time period and I love reading about Women's history, but I think this book was just a little brief for me. That said, I do think it was well written and researched, and I would read from this author again.

In this incredible women’s history book about Tudor England, Amy McElroy shines a light on the many roles and duties that women took on in an incredibly patriarchal society. Focusing on the women at court and at homes, readers get to explore the multiple facets of women’s lives including religion, education, political activity, marriage, motherhood, and childhood. Supplying her readers with some incredible details and primary sources, McElroy focuses on women who made it into the historical record to build the narratives of those who were not recorded by historians. The depth of detail and insight into daily and exceptional moments of Tudor women’s lives in this book makes it immersive and incredibly fascinating for those interested in women’s history and in the Tudor period. Pairing this book with any other books about the Tudors, sixteenth century Europe, and sixteenth century womanhood would make for a fantastic read, as this book delves into the societal norms and historical contexts which informed the lives of many Tudor era women. McElroy’s prose and details really bring this book to life, and her latest book is absolutely enjoyable and immersive for all readers and easily understandable for those with backgrounds in history and those without.

This book presents the the vibrant lives and diverse roles of Tudor women. From royal courts to humble homes, they displayed their resilience as dutiful daughters learning to run a home, resourceful wives navigating the complexities of marriage and motherhood, and empowered widows forging their own paths. These women shaped the Tudor world in profound and subtle ways.

This well-researched book gives us a lively view into the Tudor world. It’s informative, engaging, and easy to read.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Although the lawyer, scholar and chancellor Thomas More famously gave his daughters a fine education, most Tudor parents were less enlightened. The educationalist Richard Mulcaster, addressing the issue in the 1580s, was quick to assure his readers that he would speak of boys’ education first, since “naturally the male is more worthy”. Nonetheless, he did acknowledge that girls had some capacity to learn.By the start of the 16th century, girls were commonly attending local schools along with their male peers. There was one such school in London between 1504 and 1515, which was run by an aged priest named William Barbour. Barbour took in 30 students of both sexes, teaching them both religious doctrine and “further learning”. No girls were permitted to attend university, but a handful attended grammar schools.Most adolescent girls in the Tudor period were expected to leave home and work or marry well and raise a family. For upper-class girls, this would be learning the ways of becoming an attractive marriage prospect to land a suitable husband. Between the ages of seven to fourteen, the children of the poor often left home in order to find employment.This was usually in the form of domestic servants, living-in labourers or apprenticeships, in which individuals would serve a master within a specific trade.
Others took on the less respectable trade of prostitution.The scale of such operations– which were often run by women–was variable. Most Tudor women expected to marry, and girls were expected to retain their virginity until their wedding night. Marriages of the nobility and gentry were approached like business arrangements, with the two families haggling over the terms, such as dowry and jointure to further their lineage,inheritance and preservation of status.Tudor women were expected to support their husbands in their businesses or work, run their households, and bear children. As they were restricted to marriage and motherhood, women relied heavily on their husband for financial support and economic security was deeply sought.Children were expected to honour and obey their parents and were treated like miniature adults.

A very interesting and well researched book, recommended if you are interested in women's or social history
Well written, easy to follow.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Very interesting book about the lives of women during the Tudor years. It is very well research. The author covers all spheres of society, from the poor to the rich; and all periods in the life of a woman, from birth until her death.

Very interesting read if you like history and a topic that is rarely ever touched on in history books: women. I love anything involving the Tudor era so this was right up my alley. Lots of interesting information. Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the opportunity to read.

Amy McElroy, Women's Lives in the Tudor Era, Pen & Sword, March 2024.

Thank you, NetGalley and Pen & Sword, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

Amy McElroy’s book makes an excellent contribution to knowledge about women’s lives in the Tudor era. She does not make the mistake of omitting the information about the more well-known female figures. Instead, there is an engaging back and forth between women’s lives as they were lived at court, those who served them, and those whose work and lives contributed to the society in which the exceptional figures of history raised their heads to occasionally join the more well-known history of their male counterparts. Yes, a great deal more is known about the royal women and those at court, but Amy McElroy makes their lives even more available in this work. However, where she really excels is in the wealth of research she has undertaken to make other women’s lives in this period more accessible.

The illustrations carry through this theme, from headdresses and other fashions, comparisons of clothing and royal images; various graphics of women spinning and another assisting in childbirth; a Tudor hospital and birthing furniture and scenes; to printed works. Notes accompany each chapter. There is an index and a bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The former includes a primer on governing a family, from the duties between husbands and wives to those associated with masters and servants. As expected, these works are those of the people in power, those who could read and write. The secondary sources include general histories of the period; tomes on women and property and women’s legal rights; women’s everyday lives; poverty and vagrancy; and women’s employment.

McElroy writes in a lively fashion, so that Tudor women’s lives become a vast story of the society in which court life and royalty have hitherto been the main protagonists. The conclusion is a joy to read, laying out as it does the evidence that Tudor women were remarkable in their influence over their own lives and those of their families, if not further afield. The importance of domestic initiatives, tasks and relationships are given their due through this thorough investigation of Tudor women’s lives.

A very nice book about the Tudar period, looking into the lives of people seldom mentioned in most historical documents and books.

Having read lots of historical fiction over the years, I didn't expect to find much new in this nonfiction book WOMEN'S LIVES IN THE TUDOR ERA. However, I found a lot I hadn't known, and a lot that still lingers in our culture in the U.S. today (thankfully not in our laws as was the case in the Tudor era).

Amy McElroy has done a thorough job of encapsulating women's lives in Tudor England in a way that makes sense, and is interesting to read. Divided into chapters based on women's chronological ages (from birth through childhood, marriage, widowhood, and death), and including an index at the end, this book would be a wonderful addition to any history writer's or history reader's bookshelf.