The Troublemakers

Meet Minnie Newton – twenty-seven-year-old spinster, troublemaker and founder of the first ever women's football club…

London, 1887: Schoolteacher Minnie Newton is horrified when her female pupils placidly accept the limitations Victorian society puts on their ambitions and their lives. To show them that women can do anything, she places a newspaper ad, seeking others like her to join a football team.

From a handful of replies, Minnie puts together a motley collection to form a squad that’s keen but mostly hopeless. Despite their early struggles, the women soon fall in love with the game and decide to play in public, while their matches begin to draw big crowds.

But Minnie has a secret, and soon all the attention her notorious team is getting starts to threaten the life she has built for herself. Can she toe the line between independence and safety, or will the truth about who she is finally come out?

A story inspired by real-life Victorian trailblazers, who showed the world that women can do anything they put their minds to, even if they are ridiculed for it at first…

PRAISE FOR FRANCES QUINN:

‘A compelling, heart-warming novel’ GILL PAUL 

‘Powerful and inspiring’ ANNA MAZZOLA

‘A beautifully written page-turner’ LILA CAIN 

‘Utterly compelling’ ESSIE FOX 

‘Immersive and intriguing’ HAZEL GAYNOR 

‘A vivid, compelling and immaculately researched story’ LUCY BARKER