(reply to this publicly, since other people have asked questions like this.)

I’ve currently just finished reading First and Only Women by Lynn Santa Lucia, which is a great overview of women who Got Stuff Done right from ancient Egypt to modern times.

I also just read ‘Women of Discovery: A Celebration of Intrepid Women Who Explored the World’ by Milbry Polk and Mary Tiegreen, which also had collected histories of women (and not just physical explorers as the title suggests, but also scientists and the like.)

I can also helpfully recommend that no one read ‘She Wolves: The Notorious Queens of Medieval England’, the library book which sits beside me and taunts me with how rubbish and wrong it was in almost every way. (I picked it up specifically for Isabella of France but the painting of her as little more than a poor hard-done by lady broken by her husband is almost offensive.)

As for individual women, I think the only biography I own (and thus can remember having read, because my memory is truly atrocious) is Countress Dracula by Tony Thorne - an amazing look into the actual historical Erzebet Bathory which weighs fact against numerous legends.

I’ve just ordered The Dutch Ladies Tinne, in the Sudan so I can’t yet tell you what that’s like, but it’s about the amazing Alexandrine Tinné so hopefully it’s good.