Reviews: They Went Whistling

Book by Barbara Holland

I have quite a collection of anthologies covering women who behave beyond social norms. To be honest, most of them have similar lists and take a similar tone as they chat about Grace O’Malley, Boudicca, and Calamity Jane. There is nothing wrong with these books, reading them just feels like going to a craft fair where everyone is selling crocheted hats and novelty mugs with sayings from three years ago.

They Went Whistling was a random pick off my shelves that I read in an evening. Author Barbara Holland has a delightfully sarcastic tone that made reading even the familiar tales feel fun. She also had an interesting way of grouping her chapters where numerous women were covered at once rather than dedicating more page time that needed to some less well documented stories that might have been left out of a more traditional compendium.

Perhaps one of the more refreshing aspects of the book was that Holland neither vilified nor made saints of the poorly behaved. She did give historical context that might contextualize choices or lack there of, but there was a lack of historical revisionism that so often seeps into modern retellings of the lives of female historical figures.

I consider this to be one of the best options in the genre.