Joy Bounds

I've long been a champion of women's equality issues, and over recent years have become more interested in history's forgotten women - whose achievements have been ignored, dismissed or lain undiscovered. My new book Shining Threads is a historical novel based on the life of the composer and suffragette Ethel Smyth. She lived at a time when women were not welcome into the musical world, and had to fight to be accepted. I became interested in Ethel's music when researching my local history book, A Song of their Own, about the suffragettes in and around Ipswich. My earlier novel Far From Home is about Joan of Arc, told from the perspective of her mother. Joan of Arc is one of the most amazing women the world has known, and yet she came from a peasant family in the east of France. You can see more about me and my books (including my veggie diet books) on www.joybounds.co.uk.