Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries
Edited by Sarah Gristwood.
- T. Batsford Ltd., London, 2024
ISBN: 978 1 84994 815 9
British journalist and book editor Sarah Gristwood delves into the hidden lives and language of more than 70 women diverse in age, culture, and background in Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries—and you’ll relish being privy to these private ponderings.
Gristwood divides her in-depth research into day-by-day compilations of diary excerpts by everyone from the most famous diarist and extrovert Anne Frank to the least-heard and quietest confident of Dorothy Wordsworth, the favorite poetry sounding board for husband William. Glimpses into the lives of blossoming women like Emily Pepys, a 10-year-old rector’s daughter, evolve into the shared regrets and wisdom of elders like suffragette Ida B. Wells.
This is a book of dreams, a compilation of juxtaposed personal and public triumphs and despair, and a compelling insider perspective of both the universal experience of womanhood and the generationally unique circumstances of the diarists’ historical times. Even Queen Victoria—through her 140 volumes of daily confidences–gives us a rich peek into the irritations, grudges, and stoicism of national duty behind the reserved carriage waves.
American readers may not immediately recognize the names of some contributors—indeed, introducing us to the list of these individuals upfront rather than in an appendix would have been helpful—but Gristwood captures the essence and drama of her subjects’ lives through succinct curation all the same.
About the women more familiar, readers will come away with a deeper understanding and respect for the intellect, vision, and fortitude of each.
Across the pages, we travel on life journeys alongside these ghosts or modern-day strangers, sometimes with the knowing pleasure of a loving marriage or victory to come, sometimes with deep trepidation at foreshadowed final outcomes and disasters. Sylvia Plath’s battle with mental illness until her suicide is laid bare. Anne Frank’s hopeful expression of a future of freedom gives any heart a twist as her August 4, 1944, capture date approaches, followed by an abrupt silence after her final, innocent entry.
Shy Beatrice Potter, who wrote her diaries in code between ages 14 and 30, rallies herself to overcome businessmen’s resistance so she can protect the beautiful English farmland and wildlife she paints. And a frustrated Florence Nightingale laments the care of injured soldiers in the 1800s so much that she leaves the cushioned life of her wealthy family to pioneer the nursing profession.
“Have finished Little Women and sent it off—402 pages. May is designing some pictures for it. Hope it will go, for I shall probably get nothing for ‘Morning Glories.’ Very tired, head full of pain from overwork, and heart heavy about Marmee, who is growing feeble,” writes Louisa May Alcott, oblivious to the fact that her 1868 book and dozens of others will still be cherished by millions of readers in 2024.
Silent Voices is not all so dour. It can’t be since with women comes plentiful humor. Novelist Barbara Pym dares to buy sexy lingerie and titters with naughty glee. Others burst with snide criticism of the clothes of societal competitors and then write of their own perceived fashion triumphs such as the donning of a head-turning new hat.
As privileged observers, we bear witness to the unburdening of hearts and minds shared simply through the jotted confessions of women honest enough to admit betrayals to themselves and others while simultaneously celebrating a year’s Christmas joys and questioning the mechanics and power of sex, love, restraint, and freedom. Like today’s women, their lives prove complicated and bracketed by public facades, whether at society balls or on social media.
In Secret Voices, Gristwood has unlocked the scrawled pages usually hidden in bedroom drawers, and we may be surprised at the commonalities that connect us regardless of century, class, or geography. The dedicated diarists of yesteryear are frankly the forebears of women taught to “journal” for self-care today.
