For any little or not so little girl who is on a mission to uphold what their great grandmothers fought so strongly for as Suffragettes, women’s rights, the right to Vote, The Unstoppable Letty Pegg is a terrific read. It is also for those who are interested in history, women’s rights and the view of the early 1900’s through the eyes of a young girl as she begins to understand the fabric of societies changing nature and what makes up family.
Letty’s mum is a Suffragette, but it is work that she carries on in secret, as both her mother and husband would certainly not approve of her mixing in such circles. Letty’s dad is a policeman, doing his best to support his young family during the years of depression. Her Grandmother is of the Victorian era and very strict and proper about a woman’s place in society and the home.
Set around 1910 when the Suffragette movement in Britain was bringing to attract scores of women, it also attracted brute force for the women who were brave enough to march in the protests held throughout Britain.
Letty does not so well at school for a lot of reasons, but is pretty good at talking her father around to getting her a pair of roller skates, which she takes with her on a family visit to her grandmother.
While there, she goes with her mother to what is apparently a Suffragette meeting and finds herself in deep trouble, separated from her mother and caught up in the middle of a protest march. She is very frightened by the violence but is surprised to see that many of the women on the march have learned something called Jiu Jitsu which is very effective against the bullying of the police.
From this point onwards, although Letty just wants to be like all the other kids and fit in at school, she also realises the importance of what her mother is trying to achieve. She learns that family life is not always smooth sailing and life can get very, very hard indeed when things go terribly wrong.
The Unstoppable Letty Pegg is the perfect vehicle for introducing historical fiction to young readers, as it has a heroine who is like kids everywhere, a slice of history not all that far removed from modern day events, such as the Black Lives matter rallies held world-wide in a rapidly changing global society, all tied together with a fair bit of fun and mayhem, just to keep things interesting.
