Philippa Gregory is a historian and novelist renowned for combining rich research with powerful storytelling. Through her writing, she reveals the women history tried to forget - and whose stories are more relevant today than ever. Her novels have sold millions of copies worldwide and been adapted for stage, television and film. In 2023 she published her critically acclaimed non-fiction book Normal Women, a new social history of women in England for 900 years. It has also been adapted as a podcast, teen edition and children's edition. In 2026, Boleyn Traitor won Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Philippa Gregory was awarded a CBE for services to literature and charity in 2021. www.philippagregory.com
Collins Big Cat supports every primary child on their reading journey from phonics to fluency. Top authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that children love to read. Levelled for guided and independent reading, each book includes ideas to support reading. Teaching and assessment support and eBooks are also available. I bet you think of women in the "Olden Days" as princesses in towers, rather than super-strong sports women? Think again! Women were at the top of most sports until about the 1800s - when long dresses and tight corsets slowed them down. They were told sport would make them ill and suddenly everyone forgot that women of all ages had run, fought, ridden, and played all kinds of sport - it was just missing from the history books. Women were fast runners and skilled boxers. They were playing football, cricket, golf, tennis and hockey and riding horses. Adapted from her best-selling, critically acclaimed series Normal Women, join multi-award-winning author Philippa Gregory as she tells the stories missing from the record. The truth is that MILLIONS of normal women have been doing extraordinary things FOR EVER, and one of them is succeeding in sport. Sapphire/Band 16 books offer longer reads to develop children's sustained engagement with texts and are more complex syntactically. Pages 54 and 55 allow children to re-visit the content of the book, supporting comprehension skills, vocabulary development and recall. Ideas for reading in the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities.