Helen Lewis has produced a real gem in Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights (Jonathan Cape, £16.99; Tablet price £15.29). She takes the life stories of 11 very different women across the last two centuries to illustrate the text of her subtitle – “Well-behaved women don’t make history” – and tells the story of their myriad struggles with wit and understanding. Her particular skill is in relating the experiences of some extraordinary women to the lives of the rest of us ordinary mortals today, and providing her own personal insight in reaction. It is effective and often very moving.