The Weaker Vessel

Reader reviewed by Mairi

In the seventeenth century, women were commonly known as the weaker vessel, though this was far from an accurate description of their role in society. In this book, Antonia Fraser explores the lives of heiresses, wives, widows, and others. For almost every point there is an interesting anecdote to flesh out the reader's view of gender roles in the past.

The first book by Antonia Fraser that I ever read was The Warrior Queens, which I enjoyed. After I finished it I decided to read this one, and found it to be just as good, though different. Whereas The Warrior Queens relates fascinating information on individual women, The Weaker Vessel uses individual women only to shed light on women as a whole.

All in all, this is a wonderful book if one is interested in the subject matter, but it is hardly a light read, so some readers might not enjoy it as much.