A piquant reminder of the talent, musical and literary, that has always been under editors’ noses, if only they cared to look.

This Woman’s Work is billed as challenging 'the historical narrative of music and music writing being written by men, for men' and 'seeks to confront the male dominance and sexism that have been hard-coded in the canons of music, literature and film'. That’s laudable and very necessary, but it’s not anti-feminist to hope there is also also going to be irreverence, complication, thrills, ridiculous devotion, mystery and all the things that make the serious business of music so joyful. Glad to say, it’s all in there.

... fearsome and eclectic.

What sets This Woman’s Work apart is the presence of many writers who are not, in fact, music writers. They are instead writers whose craft and acclaim stretch across the field of contemporary literature.

The 16 writers in this excellent female-focused essay collection evoke the mystery of music with indelible precision.