The graphic format is the embodiment of the suffrage rally-cry of “Deeds not Words” and this book is the perfect sister-volume to their stunning adaptation of the socialist classic The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

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Pioneering Suffragette Emily Wilding Davison loved it, pronouncing that it “breathes the very spirit of our women’s movement” – a spirit that lives on in this new graphic novel edition.

This is a fascinating story and equally an important piece of social history – deserving a modern audience. IT was a critical time for the suffragette movement: by 1911, the campaign had made an impact on the public debate. Jenny Clegg, who works long hours in a Lancashire weaving shed, can only look on as her mother’s pitiful savings are squandered by her gambler father and her sister’s children are shipped to Australia against her wishes by her violent, controlling husband. Noted English suffragette Emily Wilding Davison, herself, described it as a book which “breathes the very spirit of our Women’s Movement. Hailed by Emily Wilding Davison as “a book which breathes the very spirit of our Women’s Movement”, the fast paced story interweaves the lives of women from all classes working together to bring about change.

No Surrender – Constance Maud’s 1911 Novel on Women’s Fight No Surrender – Constance Maud’s 1911 Novel on Women’s Fight

It is highly regarded as an important document of the arguments for and against extending votes to women, for its witty storytelling and for an unflinching depiction of the rapid escalation of violence encountered by the women involved. While The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists examined the arguments for and against socialism, No Surrender explores the battle for equality, how women were regarded, and the ethics of civil disobedience. As the women’s efforts become more strident so do to their ramifications, and a later scene of a hunger-striking Mary being force-fed in prison is unforgettable in its brutality. This 21st-century graphic novel version of Constance Maude’s No Surrender charts the plight of Suffragettes at the beginning of the last century. In their hands, No Surrender is newly charming, its infelicities smoothed both by Sophie’s fleet way with speech bubbles and by Scarlett’s absolutely delightful illustrations.No Surrender is a well-presented, substantial representation of a classic which deserves to be explored further.

Marvel Comics Quicksilver Trade Paperback No Surrender Marvel Comics Quicksilver Trade Paperback No Surrender

Along with friends from every walk of life, she brings the fight to the Prime Minister’s door – and suffers for her cause. He is also a co-organiser of the annual UK Small Press Day and has been a judge or committee member for the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition, the British Comic Awards and the SICBA Awards. There is considerable use of colour, and the pictures are of a high quality, with chapter title pages, some full page illustrations and even fold out flaps which reveal an incredibly detailed and fascinating picture of a procession. Tressell was a decorator who wrote about economics from his working-class point of view, and died in poverty in 1911 before it was published,” says Scarlett.

A young woman is arrested for her desperate acts, and it takes extreme events to bring about life changing decisions. No Surrender was first published in 1911, the year women across the country boycotted the British census by spoiling forms with the words “I don’t count so I won’t be counted” and “no persons here, only women. It displays the colours adopted by the suffragette cause as an early success in branding, and puts the women usually seen in black and white into a vivid and memorable setting.

No Surrender - Rickard Sisters No Surrender - Rickard Sisters

Written by a Suffragette from the heat of the battle, this novel is a vivid social record of a tumultuous era, told through the lives of a broad cast of powerful characters. I have read and reviewed the original novel, which pioneering Suffragette Emily Wilding Davidson said “breathes the very spirit of our women’s movement”; it is brilliantly written and very much of its time.The same use of illustrated chapter headings sets the tone for each section and establishing shots give us a sense of space and environment. All of which presents something of an opportunity for Scarlett and Sophie Rickard, the sisters whose last book was a graphic adaptation of Robert Tressell’s equally earnest novel of struggle and socialism, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – and boy, do they rise to it. There are crises throughout the book – as arrests are made and protests occur in prisons which test everyone’s beliefs. Jenny’s focus has become the fight for the vote for women which she sees is the route to equality before the law and genuine hope for women.