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The Scandalous Ladies Football Club

A big-hearted, soul-lifting story of friendship, football and fighting for the life you want
Brief Description
Welcome to the British Ladies Football Club London, 1897. Minnie Newton – twenty-eight-year-old schoolteacher and women’s rights advocate – has a passion for football. But in Victorian society, football is a men's game. That is, until Minnie decides to take matters into her own hands and... Read More
Format: Hardback
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Meet Minnie Newton – spinster, troublemaker and founder of the first ever women's football club – in a story inspired by real-life Victorian trailblazers, who showed the world that women can do anything they put their minds to, even if they are ridiculed for it at first…

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Welcome to the British Ladies Football Club

London, 1897. Minnie Newton – twenty-eight-year-old schoolteacher and women’s rights advocate – has a passion for football. But in Victorian society, football is a men's game. That is, until Minnie decides to take matters into her own hands and place an ad in the newspaper, asking for volunteers to join the first ever women’s football team.

From a motley collection of replies, Minnie puts together a squad. Most of the women have never kicked a ball before – but a little thing like that isn’t about to stop them. And when they take the game public, it isn’t long before they are drawing huge crowds, stirring controversy across the capital and beyond.

But Minnie is hiding an explosive secret. Soon, all the attention the club is getting begins to threaten the life she has built for herself.

Can she walk the line between independence and safety, or will the truth about who she really is finally come out? And is the beautiful game enough to save her freedom?

A story inspired by real-life Victorian trailblazers, who showed the world that women can do anything they put their minds to, even if the world around them says they can’t.

PRAISE FOR FRANCES QUINN:

‘A compelling, heart-warming novel’ GILL PAUL
‘Powerful and inspiring’ ANNA MAZZOLA
‘A beautifully written page-turner’ LILA CAIN
‘Utterly compelling’ ESSIE FOX
‘Immersive and intriguing’ HAZEL GAYNOR
‘A vivid, compelling and immaculately researched story’ LUCY BARKER

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781398520738

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 02 July 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Simon & Schuster Ltd

Illustration: N-A

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 135.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 400

About the Author

Frances Quinn grew up in London and read English at King’s College, Cambridge, realising too late that the course would require more than lying around reading novels for three years. After snatching a degree from the jaws of laziness, she became a journalist, writing for magazines including Prima, Good Housekeeping, She, Woman’s Weekly and Ideal Home, and later branched out into copywriting, producing words for everything from Waitrose pizza packaging to the EasyJet in-flight brochure.  In 2013, she won a place on the Curtis Brown Creative novel writing course, and started work on her first novel, The Smallest Man. That Bonesetter Woman is her second novel. She lives in Brighton, with her husband and two Tonkinese cats.

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