'A litany of fresh heroes to make the embattled heart sing' Caitlin Moran 'Newman is a brilliant writer' Observer A fresh, opinionated history of all the brilliant women you should have learned about in school but didn't. For hundreds of years we have heard about the great men of history, but what about herstory? In this freewheeling history of modern Britain, Cathy Newman writes about the pioneering women who defied the odds to make careers for themselves and alter the course of modern history; women who achieved what they achieved while dismantling hostile, entrenched views about their place in society. Their role in transforming Britain is fundamental, far greater than has generally been acknowledged, and not just in the arts or education but in fields like medicine, politics, law, engineering and the military. While a few of the women in this book are now household names, many have faded into oblivion, their personal and collective achievements mere footnotes in history. We know of Emmeline Pankhurst, Vera Brittain, Marie Stopes and Beatrice Webb. But who remembers engineer and motorbike racer Beatrice Shilling, whose ingenious device for the Spitfires' Rolls-Royce Merlin fixed an often-fatal flaw, allowing the RAF's planes to beat the German in the Battle of Britain? Or Dorothy Lawrence, the journalist who achieved her ambition to become a WW1 correspondent by pretending to be a man? And developmental biologist Anne McLaren, whose work in genetics paved the way for in vitro fertilisation? Blending meticulous research with information gleaned from memoirs, diaries, letters, novels and other secondary sources, Bloody Brilliant Women uses the stories of some extraordinary lives to tell the tale of 20th and 21st century Britain. It is a history for women and men. A history for our times.

‘Sometimes, 1+1 = changing the world. Cathy Newman’s witty, warm history on the power of determined couples will make you look at your relationship and wonder, “Could we be doing more this weekend than just going to IKEA?�’ CAITLIN MORAN From rivals propelling each other forwards to friends combining their talents, it’s clear: often two heads are better than one. How did William and Ellen Craft work together to pull off a perilous cross-country escape from slavery? How did the queer artists Marcel Moore and Claude Cahun become icons of the surrealist movement, then heroines of the resistance in the Second World War? Why couldn’t Steve Jobs have started Apple alone? Vibrant, feminist and unexpected, Cathy Newman rewrites the history books to expose this strange power of two – and to ask why certain collaborators are so often left out of the narrative. Previously published as It Takes Two.

‘Sometimes, 1+1 = changing the world. Cathy Newman’s witty, warm history on the power of determined couples will make you look at your relationship and wonder, “Could we be doing more this weekend than just going to IKEA?�’ CAITLIN MORAN Throughout history, collaboration has fuelled greatness. From rivals pressuring each other forwards to friends combining their talents, it’s clear: often two heads are better than one. In It Takes Two, Cathy Newman rewrites the history books to expose this strange power of two – the reason Holmes and Watson need to come as a pair, and Apple could not have been started by Steve Jobs alone. Bringing together an extraordinary range of stories from around the world, Newman shows how double acts have relied on each other, how minds have married to usher in miraculous discoveries, and how those we think of as lone geniuses often did not work solo. How did William and Ellen Craft work together to pull off a perilous cross-country escape from slavery? How did the queer artists Marcel Moore and Claude Cahun become icons of the surrealist movement, then heroines of the resistance during WW2? How do today’s most powerful couples – from Beyoncé and Jay-Z to Bill and Melinda Gates – negotiate coupledom and individual achievement in the spotlight? Vibrant, feminist and unexpected, this brilliant history shows the value of friction, obsession, difference and trust when it comes to progress – and retrieves the work of many who have been forgotten, asking why certain collaborators are so often left out of the narrative.

As technology to revitalize dormant human DNA is released to the world, millions voluntarily take pills touted to improve eyesight, strength, balance, and lung capacity. But no one has any idea of the power these tiny pills hold until the world begins rapidly spiraling into unadulterated chaos. As soon as Rita Perez and her team of scientists realize that the nutritional supplements are causing people to transform into devolved mutants, they spring into action and attempt to genetically reverse the effects of the pills. But the creatures-part human and part pre-human-are quickly gaining control over the planet, and mankind is not prepared to handle the anarchy that follows. As a global struggle ensues and human is pitted against mutant, Perez knows if she is not able to undo the course of devolution, it is only a matter of time before the human race will disappear forever. Sometimes even the best of intentions can have disastrous impacts. The future of the world is at stake as a brilliant scientist frantically researches a cure for the disaster she naively released to the world. But little does she know that the terror within is about to become terror unleashed.

As technology to revitalize dormant human DNA is released to the world, millions voluntarily take pills touted to improve eyesight, strength, balance, and lung capacity. But no one has any idea of the power these tiny pills hold until the world begins rapidly spiraling into unadulterated chaos. As soon as Rita Perez and her team of scientists realize that the nutritional supplements are causing people to transform into devolved mutants, they spring into action and attempt to genetically reverse the effects of the pills. But the creatures-part human and part pre-human-are quickly gaining control over the planet, and mankind is not prepared to handle the anarchy that follows. As a global struggle ensues and human is pitted against mutant, Perez knows if she is not able to undo the course of devolution, it is only a matter of time before the human race will disappear forever. Sometimes even the best of intentions can have disastrous impacts. The future of the world is at stake as a brilliant scientist frantically researches a cure for the disaster she naively released to the world. But little does she know that the terror within is about to become terror unleashed.