Her Brilliant Career by Rachel Cooke
A witty and touching account of ten inspirational figures that makes us reconsider conventional ideas of the fifties woman.
Inspirational, warm and witty * Daily Mail *
A gallery of vividly drawn portaits - witty, poignant, inspiriting - that opens up a new front in our understanding of the "lost" Fifties -- David Kynaston, author of Modernity Britain
Rachel Cooke shines a new light in an elegantly original way into the 1950s and especially into the role of women thereinBy cleverly focussing on the lives of several extraordinary women, she manages to produce a social history which is highly absorbing and richly informative. A very enjoyable and distinctive book -- Kate Atkinson
There is warmth and lightness of spirit to this book: it is witty, intelligent, kind and poignant. Cooke exudes love and knowledge of people, gardens, food, art . . . she leaves you wanting more * The Times *
Vastly entertaining, cannily researched and sharply perceptive * Telegraph *
Eloquent, concise, fair-minded, witty and elegant . . . Her Brilliant Career is the perfect book with which to celebrate Virago's 40 years of championing feminist writing -- Amanda Craig * Independent on Sunday *
Ten fascinating biographies for the price of one, and an exuberant dig into a decade which we've rather grassed over. Her Brilliant Career is a vivid, witty, affectionate page-turner about some amazing lost heroines -- Melanie Reid * The Times *
Rachel Cooke's fantastic, clever, funny, illuminating book about 10 remarkable women -- India Knight * Sunday Times *
What a treat . . . Thank you, Rachel Cooke, for finding, and judiciously commenting on, these women insouciant of feminism and strangers to guilt (which 'had not yet been invented'); for succinct scene-setting of the 1950s with phrases like 'Cue mambo on the juke-box'; and for never once using the dread word "feisty" * Oldie *
Cooke is one of the outstanding British journalists of her generation -- Sebastian Faulks * New York Times *
Cooke writes with such zest about such interesting lives * Guardian *
Her Brilliant Career is a corrective, a hurrah for the oldies. Despite barriers that dwarf those that persist today, plenty of gutsy women rode the Fifties unthwarted and unclenched. Ms Cooke takes an exuberant gallop through the careers and private lives of ten of them in Britain * The Economist *
A gallery of vividly drawn portaits - witty, poignant, inspiriting - that opens up a new front in our understanding of the "lost" Fifties -- David Kynaston, author of Modernity Britain
Rachel Cooke shines a new light in an elegantly original way into the 1950s and especially into the role of women thereinBy cleverly focussing on the lives of several extraordinary women, she manages to produce a social history which is highly absorbing and richly informative. A very enjoyable and distinctive book -- Kate Atkinson
There is warmth and lightness of spirit to this book: it is witty, intelligent, kind and poignant. Cooke exudes love and knowledge of people, gardens, food, art . . . she leaves you wanting more * The Times *
Vastly entertaining, cannily researched and sharply perceptive * Telegraph *
Eloquent, concise, fair-minded, witty and elegant . . . Her Brilliant Career is the perfect book with which to celebrate Virago's 40 years of championing feminist writing -- Amanda Craig * Independent on Sunday *
Ten fascinating biographies for the price of one, and an exuberant dig into a decade which we've rather grassed over. Her Brilliant Career is a vivid, witty, affectionate page-turner about some amazing lost heroines -- Melanie Reid * The Times *
Rachel Cooke's fantastic, clever, funny, illuminating book about 10 remarkable women -- India Knight * Sunday Times *
What a treat . . . Thank you, Rachel Cooke, for finding, and judiciously commenting on, these women insouciant of feminism and strangers to guilt (which 'had not yet been invented'); for succinct scene-setting of the 1950s with phrases like 'Cue mambo on the juke-box'; and for never once using the dread word "feisty" * Oldie *
Cooke is one of the outstanding British journalists of her generation -- Sebastian Faulks * New York Times *
Cooke writes with such zest about such interesting lives * Guardian *
Her Brilliant Career is a corrective, a hurrah for the oldies. Despite barriers that dwarf those that persist today, plenty of gutsy women rode the Fifties unthwarted and unclenched. Ms Cooke takes an exuberant gallop through the careers and private lives of ten of them in Britain * The Economist *
RACHEL COOKE was born in Sheffield 4 July 1969. A journalist for the Observer for twenty-five years, she reviewed books, interviewed celebrities, politicians and writers, championed graphic novels, and wrote a weekly TV column for the New Statesman. In 2006, Rachel Cooke was named Interviewer of the Year at the British Press Awards.
Her first book, Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties published by Virago in 2013, was followed by Kitchen Person: Notes on Cooking & Eating, a collection of her pieces from her Observer column, published by Weidenfeld in 2023. The Virago Book of Friendship was published in hardback in 2024. All three of her books reflect the passion and the wit of a great and beguiling writer. Clever, wide-ranging and inspiring, her knowledge and sheer appetite for life was shared with millions of readers.
Rachel Cooke died in London on 14 November 2025 aged 56.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781844087419 |
| ISBN 10 | 1844087417 |
| Title | Her Brilliant Career |
| Author | Rachel Cooke |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Little, Brown Book Group |
| Year published | 2014-05-01 |
| Number of pages | 384 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |