A Woman's Lot, The Second Meonbridge Chronicle

By Carolyn Hughes

First published June 2018

How can mere women resist the misogyny of men?
The devastation wrought two years ago in Meonbridge by the Black Death changed the balance of society: women saw their chance to build a business, to learn a trade, to play a greater part. But many men hold fast to the teachings of the Church and fear the havoc the so-called “daughters of Eve” might wreak if they’re allowed to usurp men’s roles and gain control over their own lives.
In Meonbridge, a resentful peasant rages against Eleanor Titherige’s efforts to build up her flock of sheep… Susanna Miller’s husband, grown melancholy and ill-tempered, succumbs to idle gossip that his wife’s a scold… Agnes Sawyer’s yearning to be a craftsman is met with scorn. And the village priest, fearful of what he considers women’s “unnatural” ambitions, is determined to keep them firmly in their place.
Not all the men in Meonbridge resist the women’s desire for change – indeed, they want change for themselves. Yet it takes only one or two misogynists to unleash the hounds of hostility and hatred…