Following on from the success of Unsung Women in Somerset, Midsomer Norton author Helen Pugh has now written a junior edition of the book, aiming to bring amazing women to the attention of children and their grown ups.

Both versions of the book detail the lives of real-life and legendary women who inhabited Somerset from pre-Roman to modern times. The women often went uncelebrated, unrecognised and unrewarded.

Unsung Women in Somerset is a collection of short stories focussing on real-life and legendary women who lived, loved, worked and struggled in Somerset. Women in the county have been up to an awful lot over the years, according to Helen’s books, including worshipping goddesses, travelling the world, burning down a castle, arguing with the queen over swans, fighting against slavery and racism, among many other things.

Released in October of this year, the junior edition will include familiar faces from the standard edition, as well as new women and more information about certain other individuals.

Helen was inspired to write about women in Somerset to explore the history of our “wonderful county and shed light on its women, who have often been sidelined by historical accounts.”

Growing up in Chilcompton and attending secondary school in Bath, Helen studied languages at Bristol University, has lived abroad for more than eight years, then returned to Somerset in 2018. After four years in Shepton Mallet, she and her family now live in Midsomer Norton.

Children and grown-ups can enjoy spotting their village or town in the A–Z index, which outlines every Somerset place name mentioned in the book. There are over 120 in total.

Her other works include Intrepid Dudettes of the Inca Empire, an accessible non-fiction historical account of incredible Inca women who lived hundreds of years ago.

For children, she has written Jungle-tastic Tales and Inca-tastic Tales, short story anthologies for children based on extensive research into the rainforest and Inca history, respectively, as well as Cuentos incatásticos for Spanish speakers. Her interest in South America and the Incas began in 2006, when she first went to Ecuador.

Helen studied Spanish and Italian at university and has a lifelong passion for history, especially that of historical women who made history, but have been sidelined.

Unsung Women in Somerset (Junior Edition) is available to pre-order as an ebook from: https://books2read.com/unsung-junior and will also be available as a colour paperback and black and white paperback.