Sheilas cover art

Sheilas

Badass Women of Australian History

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Sheilas

By: Eliza Reilly
Narrated by: Eliza Reilly
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About this listen

An entertaining romp through Australian history that celebrates the badass sheroes we were never taught about in school and who deserve to be printed on our money, goddamn it!

It's been said that 'well-behaved women seldom make history', but the handful of white boys who wrote our history books conveniently left most of them out. Whoops! To rectify this situation, Eliza Reilly is setting out to revive the forgotten stories of the badass sheilas of Australian history.

Chain yourself to pub counters with the determined Merle Thornton, fight for Indigenous rights alongside Faith Bandler and lure forlorn sailors with swimmer-slash-mermaid Annette Kellerman. Deceive cranky soldiers with bushranger Mary Ann Bugg, infiltrate Nazi strongholds on the back of Nancy Wake's bike - and much, much more.

Cracking with satirical wit and whole-hearted admiration, Sheilas is a cheeky, funny, inspirational celebration of the tough-titted ladies who hiked up their petticoats and fly-kicked down the doors of opportunity for modern Australia.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Eliza Reilly (P)2022 Macmillan Australia Audio
Gender Studies Women Witty Funny Heartfelt

Critic Reviews

"A welcome and witty contribution towards redressing the balance - a must-read." (Noni Hazlehurst)

"If Kathy Lette and Monty Python had a love child, that freak would be Eliza Reilly. Lush, loose and liberated from academic orthodoxy, Reilly has the labia majoras to ask the simple but earth-quaking question: what were the women doing? As it happens: Plenty! Sheilas is a glorious romp through the Australian history you didn't learn at school. Funny and fearless, this is the book you'll want your daughters to read and your sons to worship." (Clare Wright)

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Brillant

Thank you for an encouraging truth for those generations now growing up. Our appreciation of good humour and narration.

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  • Overall
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awesome

what a breath of fresh air ! such a fun and informative and enlightening listen ... Encore!

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Relentlessly vulgar

I was disappointed in this book. Whilst there are many wonderful stories about women from Australia, I did not appreciate the over hearty and vulgar tone used. I was expecting a more nuanced and careful telling of these women’s stories. Too sloppy by half.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.