GABRIELE NEHER draws attention to an astoundingly skilled Flemish painter who defied the notion that women cannot paint like men
The Tin God
by Chris Nickson
(Severn House Publishers, £20.99)
THE FIRST petition to Parliament asking for votes for women was presented to the House of Commons on behalf of a Mary Smith from Leeds in August 1832.
That fact gives a pertinent context to this novel, in which Annabelle Harper is one of seven women seeking election as a Poor Law Guardian in 1897, a position that then decided how much relief someone should get or whether they had to go to the workhouse.
ALAN MORRISON recommends a consummate, heart-warming collection about a working-class upbringing in the industrial north-east
SIMON PARSONS applauds an artist who rescues and rehumanises stories of women, the victims of violence, from a feminist perspective
The book feels like a writer working within his limits and not breaking any new ground, believes KEN COCKBURN



