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| About the Book |
Writing
Feminism Into Historical Fiction
by Olivia Lockhart
When I started writing Annalise,
I knew one thing about her immediately - she would be a feminist.
What I didn’t realise at the
time was just how much researching her world in the 1960s would make me reflect
on the women who came before us - including my own mother.
I’ve always considered myself a
feminist, so from the moment I began planning Annalise as a character, I knew
she would be someone who fought for women’s rights.
For me, feminism has never been
about rejecting love, relationships, or men themselves. One of the things I
enjoyed most while writing Annalise was exploring her growing realisation that
feminism and loving a man can absolutely go hand in hand. Feminists don’t necessarily
dislike men - we challenge the systems that oppress us. We push back against
inequality, patriarchy, and the everyday misogyny that women continue to encounter.
Writing a character like
Annalise meant looking closely at what life was actually like for women in the
1960s. The research was fascinating, but also incredibly eye-opening. In many
ways, society has come a long way, yet sometimes, when you look at the world
today, it can feel as though progress doesn’t always move in a straight line.
While writing No More
Tomorrows, I did soften certain realities of the time to make Annalise’s
story possible. If her life had followed the strict expectations of the era,
some parts of her independence would have been far more difficult to imagine.
To help shape that world, I drew
heavily on my parents’ experiences growing up during the 1960s.
My mum, for example, married at
seventeen. It wasn’t unusual at the time, and in many cases, it was the only
realistic way for young couples to live together. “Living in sin,” as it was
often called then, carried real social consequences. My parents both remember
the rare couples who chose to live together unmarried, and how they were
whispered about, judged, or quietly excluded by others in their community.
Some of the social customs from
that era feel almost unbelievable now. Many pubs had separate rooms for women,
something that seems astonishing today but was entirely normal at the time. My
mum told me that she and her friends would never have dreamed of going to a pub
alone for a drink. That simply wasn’t done. If you went to the pub, it was
usually because your husband or boyfriend had taken you there.
So, although the 1960s are often
remembered as a time of cultural awakening - free love, music, rebellion, and
social change —-the reality in many small towns across the UK was quite
different. In places like the one I grew up in, women were still expected to
remain firmly within traditional roles.
Financial independence was also
far more limited than many people realise today. Women couldn’t apply for
credit cards or mortgages, and access to contraception was restricted to
married women.
One story my mum shared with me
during my research has stayed with me ever since. She remembered being in the
maternity ward after having her first baby and seeing a young girl in absolute
hysterics as her newborn was taken away from her, simply because she was
unmarried. Listening to that story was heartbreaking. It’s difficult to imagine
the pain and injustice of a moment like that.
Because of those realities, I knew
that Annalise’s life in the novel required a little creative flexibility. In
truth, a young woman living independently and inviting men back to her home in
the 1960s would likely have faced serious backlash in many communities.
Even the academic world revealed
surprising barriers during my research. Cambridge University, for example, has
a complicated history when it comes to women. Women were allowed to attend
lectures and borrow books as early as the 1920s, but they weren’t granted full
degrees until 1948. Even more surprising, the final all-male college at
Cambridge didn’t begin accepting women until as late as 1988.
Perhaps the biggest historical
adjustment I had to make involved Churchill College, where Annalise proudly
studies in the novel. In reality, the college didn’t admit its first female
students until 1972.
So, while Annalise exists in the
past, the spirit behind her character still matters today.
If there’s one thing I hope readers take from her story, it’s this - channel your inner Annalise. Keep questioning. Keep pushing forward. And never stop fighting for equality.
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