Bad Girls

Society has never known what to do with its rebellious women. Those who defied expectations about feminine behaviour have long been considered dangerous and unnatural, and ever since the Victorian era they have been removed from public view, locked up and often forgotten about. Many of these women ended up at HMP Prison Holloway, the self-proclaimed 'terror to evil-doers' which, until its closure in 2016, was western Europe's largest women's prison.

First built in 1852 as a House of Correction, Holloway's women have come from all corners of the UK - whether a patriot from Scotland, a suffragette from Huddersfield, or a spy from the Isle of Wight - and from all walks of life - socialites and prostitutes, sporting stars and nightclub queens, refugees and freedom fighters. They were imprisoned for treason and murder, for begging, performing abortions and stealing clothing coupons, for masquerading as men, running brothels and attempting suicide. In BAD GIRLS, Caitlin Davies tells their stories and shows how women have been treated in our justice system over more than a century, what crimes - real or imagined - they committed, who found them guilty and why. It is a story of victimisation and resistance; of oppression and bravery.

From the women who escaped the hangman's noose - and those who didn't - to those who escaped Holloway altogether, BAD GIRLS is a fascinating look at how disobedient and defiant women changed not only the prison service, but the course of history.

“Readable, compelling and illuminating”

The Bookseller
Caitlin Davies writes with warmth, empathy and humour about the women - some brave and rebellious - who spent time in Holloway Prison. Assiduously researched, Bad Girls documents interweaving struggles against prejudice, injustice, ignorance and poverty . . . the real history of Holloway is written in this insightful and thought-provoking book - which makes for a ripping good read Jeremy Corbyn
Davies's absorbing study serves up just enough sensationalism - and eccentricity - along with its serious inquiry . . . Davies captures the sense of camaraderie that blossomed inside Holloway, occasionally between warder and inmate . . . Davies uses the prison as a prism through which to chart changing attitudes to women over the past 164 years - beginning with the Victorian notion of "double deviance", which suggested that female criminals had broken not only the law of the land, but that of nature by committing "unwomanly" acts -- Helen Davies SUNDAY TIMES
It's such a great read . . . fascinating Jo Good, BBC Radio London
A rich, superbly researched, definitive history of Holloway Prison . . . There are so many heartbreaking stories within stories in the book' The Herald
Meticulously records a much-needed and balanced history of this home to "royalty and socialites, spies and prostitutes . . . Nazis and aliens, terrorists and freedom fighters" and thousands of very ordinary desperate women -- Yvonne Roberts Observer
Fascinating both for its portrait of larger-than-life women and the ways in which they were regarded by wide society during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries History Revealed
Offers many great tales of those who called the now-closed Holloway prison their home for either long or short stretches of time . . . comprehensive and much-needed . . . A hefty section of the book examines the place of the prison in the suffragette movement, a welcome addition to this year's centenary celebration of the women's right to vote . . . a must-read Camden New Journal
An enjoyable and enlightening read, which has much to recommend it BBC History Magazine

Caitlin Davies was born in London in 1964. She is the author of five novels and five non-fiction books, and has worked as a teacher and freelance journalist for 25 years. In 1989 she moved to Botswana where she worked for the country's first tabloid newspaper, the Voice, and later as editor of the Okavango Observer. She received a Journalist of the Year award. From 2014-2017 she worked as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Westminster, Harrow, in the faculty of Media, Arts & Design. p></p><i>Caitlindavies.co.uk</i><p></p><i>@CaitlinDavies2</i

Society has never known what to do with its rebellious women. Those who defied expectations about feminine behaviour have long been considered dangerous and unnatural, and ever since the Victorian era they have been removed from public view, locked up and often forgotten about. Many of these women ended up at HMP Prison Holloway, the self-proclaimed 'terror to evil-doers' which, until its closure in 2016, was western Europe's largest women's prison. First built in 1852 as a House of Correction, Holloway's women have come from all corners of the UK - whether a patriot from Scotland, a suffragette from Huddersfield, or a spy from the Isle of Wight - and from all walks of life - socialites and prostitutes, sporting stars and nightclub queens, refugees and freedom fighters. They were imprisoned for treason and murder, for begging, performing abortions and stealing clothing coupons, for masquerading as men, running brothels and attempting suicide. In BAD GIRLS, Caitlin Davies tells their stories and shows how women have been treated in our justice system over more than a century, what crimes - real or imagined - they committed, who found them guilty and why. It is a story of victimisation and resistance; of oppression and bravery. From the women who escaped the hangman's noose - and those who didn't - to those who escaped Holloway altogether, BAD GIRLS is a fascinating look at how disobedient and defiant women changed not only the prison service, but the course of history.

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