Francesca Caccini. Barbara Strozzi. Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre. Marianna Martines. Fanny Hensel. Clara Schumann. Lili Boulanger. Elizabeth Maconchy.

Great composers all, but their musical legacy is still rarely acknowledged.

Since the birth of classical music, those women who dared to compose have been patronized, had their sex lives scrutinized and the veracity of their authorship questioned. They worked within a musical culture where beliefs about what women could and could not do determined their every move. Yet, time and again there emerged individuals who would evade,...

The lives and achievements of eight women writers - a startling and unconventional history of literature