A story of huge courage and, most of all, immense female camaraderie...meticulously researched...
a fascinating and inspiring read

Inspiring and moving

An excellent account of the suffragist movement.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: The war between the sisters: Smashed windows, lobbed bombs, a fascinating book casts new light on the bitter rivalry between the women who fought for the vote.

*****Five Stars!
Hearts and Minds brings the voices of the suffragists to life in a compelling, entertaining and poignant collection of accounts. It’s a history book that should be read by all as we celebrate the centenary of the vote and continue the fight for equality.

Meticulously researched yet never dull, it breathes life into a little-known corner of history

An eye-opening story, immaculately researched and full of fascinating detail.

Anecdotal and rich in detail, Robinson’s account moves effortlessly from suffragist to suffragist, using letters, journals and autobiographies to bring personal histories to life. It’s clearly a passion project for Robinson and she manages to hold a fresh lens to this otherwise well-documented portion of history.

Hearts and Minds, with its coverage of both suffragist and suffragette, is a lively, informative book that many will enjoy reading.

A fine and sometimes moving account of the struggle for suffrage.

This entertaining and very human account of the Suffragettes' politically charged summer of 1913 is mandatory reading.

Hearts and Minds by Jane Robinson is a brilliant, witty and moving account of women’s battle to win the vote. There were two key movements: the Suffragettes, prepared to suffer for their cause, including forced feeding and imprisonment, and the Suffragists, devoted to Constitutional action and unwilling to use violence. The book tells the story, still little unknown, of the successful crusade of the Suffragists who walked to London from all over England and from all sections of society. That story is the account of the ‘Great Pilgrimage’ of 1913, a key element in the finally successful of the cause of women’s suffrage.

A fascinating new perspective on the historic struggle for women’s votes.

Editor's Choice (History). Engrossing and impressively detailed.

This book brings to life a seminal period in the history of British women. Jane Robinson has unearthed the stories of scores of women from all classes and all parts of the country, and shows how they were prepared to suffer privation and insult in the pursuit of justice. Her vibrant account is always moving and sometimes hilarious. A lovely book and a great read.

A great read, painstakingly researched.
Takes the reader into the lives of ordinary women and reveals at once their bright optimism and the stamina they showed - reluctantly leaving their children in the care of others, tramping miles in impractical clothes and braving the assaults of their detractors. I doubt protestors today often have to draw on such wells of sheer physical grit!

A timely and wonderfully told story. Robinson skilfully and sensitively details the inspirational efforts made by ordinary people to secure the vote for women. This is an important new account that deserves a wide readership.’

Robinson's brilliant book - full of anecdote, meticulous historical research and wonderful images - tells the story of the Great Pilgrimage, 1913. All the famous figures are here . . . but she also tells the stories of ordinary women: of teachers and pit girls, duchesses and fishwives, all who persuaded the country and Parliament to listen to them, and transformed the lives of women, politically and personally.

Extremely well-researched and highly readable. Robinson peppers her points with insightful first-hand accounts.

A welcome fresh look at the constitutional campaign for women's suffrage.

Hearts and Minds makes it very plain why Mrs Fawcett deserves her statue in Parliament Square. Robinson has
researched the lives of ordinary suffragists as well as the stars of the movement, and her book is clear-headed,
perceptive and thoroughly engaging. From her narrative it's clear also how important Mrs Pankhurst was in
bringing passion, anger and publicity to the women's cause. I think she deserves a statue too.

That six-week effort, in which rivulets of backpack-toting, banner-carrying suffragists, skirts a daring four inches above the ground, marched from every corner of England and Wales to gather for a mass meeting in London in late July, has never been thoroughly documented. It is nice to see it feature centrally here.

Hearts And Minds is a timely reminder of the courage of these unsung campaigners

As lively and vivid a novel as even the most demanding reader could wish for: epic in scope, deliciously meaty with its wide array of characters and milieux, and utterly convincing in its treatment of Cold War espionage and intrigue. This marvelous novel reads like the work of a mid-career master; what a wonderful surprise, then, to realize it's the opening salvo from a supremely gifted debut novelist. Lara Prescott is the real deal, and the evidence is right here on every page.

I was riveted by Lara Prescott’s new novel. I barely stirred from my chair for two days. How does one even begin to talk about this book? It’s all here—the KGB versus the CIA, the sexual office politics of Mad Men, a horrifying new look at the gulag, the tragic love affair between Boris Pasternak and his mistress, a brilliantly-drawn portrait of a time when a single book had the power to change history. I predict that The Secrets We Kept will be one of the most important books of the year.

Lara Prescott’s The Secrets We Kept is trenchant, timely, and compulsively readable. The book thrillingly recalls the period detail of Mad Men, the complex characters of Patricia Highsmith, and the satisfying plots of John le Carre, but ultimately it’s Prescott’s distinctive voice and vision that feel most stirring and relevant. This is a first-rate novel, and it signals the arrival of a major new writer.

The whirl of trench coats and cocktails and midnight meetings on park benches has the heady whiff of classic old-fashioned spy storytelling, brilliantly filtered through Prescott’s thoroughly modern lens.

Sweeping between Russia and Washington, this captivating novel is so assured it’s hard to believe it’s a debut. And it is very easy to see why there’s such a huge buzz about it.

Wholly original and brilliantly realised, The Secrets We Kept hymns the subversive power of great prose whilst ratcheting up the tension with masterly technique.

This is a fascinating story... What is entirely Prescott's own is the story of Irina, and her fellow, more experience, spy Sally Forrester. Sally is a particularly affecting character, and, since this is a book about spies, there is the usual complement of lies and double crossings. Woven into the narrative intrigue are a number of touching love stories, including one which allows Prescott to explore how the McCarthyite "Red Scare" found echoes in a widespread paranoia about gays and lesbians in the US government.

A fascinating fictionalisation.

In this stylish and confident debut novel, we delve into the story behind the story, which is just as enthralling.

It draws the reader into the emotional lives of the characters and their ever-changing roles and personas.

All the pre-publication hype is fully justifiedas American author Prescott’s debut novel turns out to be a truly wonderful blend of historical romance, spy thriller and insights into the myriad aspects of love in troubled times… Loved it.

It transported me back in time and kept me utterly gripped from beginning to end.

An astonishingly accomplished debut: original, fiercely intelligent, pointedly witty, utterly thrilling and gripping. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that this is an epic novel worthy of its topic – Dr. Zhivago and the CIA plot to publish the supposed subversive work in the USSR. The Secrets We Kept is an engrossing drama that works on so many levels. Part thriller, part love story, this reimagining of historical events is very convincing, fact and fictional creativity coalesce perfectly. The result is a beguiling read; the tragedy and iniquity of the story will drain you, but there are moments of joy and triumph too… Block out a couple of days and treat yourself to a wonderful read.

No mere spy thriller, it is, as the typists say of Dr Zhivago, both “a war story and a love story... but it was the love story we remembered most".

What a book!... riveting…This unusual story is both beautifully written and deeply compelling in equal measure…I was utterly swept away by Prescott’s vivid style of writing together with her cast of strong and wonderfully convincing characters. It is rich in historical detail and covers (for me) a fascinating period in history with astonishing lucidity. This really isn’t quite the run-of-the-mill, fast-paced, heart-in-the-mouth thriller I had expected; instead it is SO much more! It is thrilling, and it is pacy, yet it is also deeply emotional and full of zest.

The Secrets We Kept is a brilliantly told story, about a piece of relatively unknown history. It is tense, enthralling and has brilliant female characters. You’ll not be able to put it down and you will think about the characters long after you finish the book. This is one of my books of the year, for sure!

If you’ve read Doctor Zhivago, you’ll get a kick out of this.

Intriguing debut novel

The plot is complicated and the narrative even more so, owing to Prescott’s decision to use multiple first-person narrators in addition to the gossipy first-person-plural voice of the C.I.A.’s pool of female typists (which, incidentally, is highly effective). And Prescott pulls all this off… Prescott’s portrait of Sally Forrester, in particular, and Sally’s love for her colleague, Irina, is emotionally sincere and Prescott acutely captures the isolation inherent in Sally’s professional, social and sexual identity.

Engaging …This is a highly readable novel about the power of literature … The pen really is mightier than the sword

Lara Prescott has managed to summon a vanished world where novels mattered and women didn’t.

Lara Prescott's dazzling debut novel is a sweeping page turner, and now a global literary sensation.

Lara Prescott's absorbing take on the Cold War spy thriller ... doesn't disappoint … Sweeping and ambitious ... It is a tautly written masterclass in blending fiction and fact.

An entertaining read