For this truly enormous compilation, Attallah interviewed close to 300 women, on subjects as varied as feminism, sexuality, creativity, motherhood, professional life, and so on. As such, it well and truly puts women's experiences at centre stage. It's quite interesting, but despite the variety of opinions on every subject, the fact that it's getting up to 1200 pages can make it seem rather repetitive at times. There's a good range of subjects, though, if you look at the women through their professional achievements - Attallah has gathered together a number of educators, artists, scientists, businesswomen, politicians, and so forth. It is much less diverse in other ways, however. The vast majority of women included here are from the UK or the US. There's a small handful from Europe and the Middle East, but other Asian women, South American women, and African women are vanishingly rare, which is a shame.

It is also very definitely a product of its time. Published in 1987, there is a notable focus on, for instance, what the surveyed women think of Margaret Thatcher. Whether they liked her, loathed her, or were generally indifferent, she was the public example of an influential woman of the day. Notable also is the awareness of AIDS that is running through the book, especially when it touches on sexuality. As such, it comes across more of an enormous snapshot of a time and a (rather limited) space more than anything else. And because it's so giant it's taken me literally months to read...