Some Inspiring Non-Fiction from Young @ Heart Book Club

Our book club has discovered another author to recommend to all. Kate Moore is a British writer who has written in a variety of genres including romance and Feel-Good Non-Fiction (Felix the Railway Cat stories). Her more recent books are a lot more in depth and incredibly well researched, and feel as though the author has found her real passion for telling the stories of those who have been silenced by injustice.

One of our readers is in the middle of Kate Moore’s latest non fiction book, The Woman They Could Not Silence. It is set in Illinois in the 1860s, where Elizabeth Packard is a wife and mother, but one with an intellect and independence she wishes to express. The enemy of her aspirations sits across the breakfast table feeling threatened and begins to plot against her - eventually succeeding in having her committed to an asylum – losing her reputation, rights, and custody of her children. 

But there Elizabeth meets other sane and rational women, all similarly confined to keep them in line and labelled ‘crazy’. She begins a fight for them all. It is a lengthy and gruelling mission as even when released from the asylum, Elizabeth found herself back under the control of her husband and was looked on with suspicion in society.

Elizabeth’s ongoing fight for justice challenged medical science and human rights, leading to legislative change in the US regarding involuntary commitment, legal rights for married women, and abuse in care. Kate Moore brings her life story back into public view superbly. 

Another reader also recommended a Kate Moore book – The Radium Girls. Moore had been directing a play about the Radium Girls, four women who worked for the Radium Dial Company (These Shining Lives). To ensure she was portraying them accurately, she began researching their lives and visiting where they lived and worked. This led to the realisation that if she wanted a book about them, she would have to write it.

The Radium Girls tells of how the Curies' newly discovered element of radium began appearing in products such as toothpaste, energy drinks, bath salts and watches, advertised as ‘nature’s rejuvenator’. Hundreds of young women felt fortunate to land jobs in the radium industry, particularly in factories painting the glowing dials of clocks and plane navigation instruments, licking the paintbrushes to sharpen them.

The women also glowed in the dark, as radium particles stayed on their hair, skin and clothing. As time went on, the women suffered horrific and undeniable poisoning effects, but their legal fight was long and difficult as they were dismissed and ignored by doctors and factory owners. 

Kate Moore records their personal experiences, and the eventual reforms in labour laws, such as stricter safety regulations, the right to sue for damages and whistleblower protection.

Have a read, and we hope you find yourself walking the journey of these remarkable people whose stories are only now coming to light.

Posted by Elizabeth

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