“I have a hunger to read books that are deemed unsuitable for our sex. Do you really believe that women need men to control what we read because of our weak nature? That we will be unduly influenced by romantic tales, leading us astray from the path of virtue? I don’t believe that — no matter how vigorously the church fathers preach it from their pulpits.”

Constance Briones writing reads like an English literary escape befitting of the classics! I was absolutely swept away by this storytelling and truly loved our heroine Isabella Whitney.

Feminism in 16th century England is a foreign concept and any attempts to rectify this are scoffed at and laughed upon. Isabella is fiercely determined to rectify this & be heard through the artistic and witty prowess of her pen.

“Like the women in Heroides, I, too, had fallen victim to my passion and was forsaken by a man I loved too fast and too soon. But unlike them, I would not break.”

• 2024 feb-24