Author Description

An engaging, lively, provocative and, above all, inspiring memoir from one of our home-grown, unsung feminist heroes, Merle Thornton, who has lived a life full of daring, defiance and activism. Merle Thornton is one of Australia's most delightful, formidable and game-changing pioneering feminists - a woman who through her daring and defiance helped bring about positive change for generations of Australian women. In her most audacious act, in 1965 she chained herself to the bar at the Regatta Hotel in Brisbane to protest against the law that excluded women from public bars in Queensland, bringing about the end of segregated drinking in that state. The bar in the hotel is now called 'Merle's Bar.' But that's just one achievement, in a life full and rich in defiance, daring and determination. Warm, funny, rollicking - this is a memoir that is powerfully relevant to all women now. 'Merle Thornton, a true icon of Australian feminism, has published her memoir at the age of ninety and what a delight it is...It's a fast, breezy read.. a memoir that also wants to inspire... This book provides plenty of reminders that Merle Thornton was a genuine trailblazer.' Inside Story