Legenda by Janina Ramirez - Signed Independent Bookshop Edition - *Pre-Order 6th November 2025*

This is the pre-order page for the signed independent bookshop edition of Legenda: The Real Women Behind the Myths that Shaped Europe. Your order will be fulfilled upon publication: 6th November 2025.

From the bestselling author of Femina, a brilliant reappraisal of the medieval women whose liveshave been exploited over centuries for political, nation-building ends.

In Legenda, bestselling historian Professor Janina Ramirez peels back the layers of time to reveal how the identities of women have been co-opted by those intent on crafting national identities. Their names are well-known, and summaries of their achievements have been recited in classrooms for decades, but medieval women like Joan of Arc, Lady Godiva and Isabella of Castile have been misrepresented, their stories twisted and weaponised.

Meanwhile, ground-breaking 18th and 19th-century women who blazed a trail through revolutionary Europe have been forgotten, their legacies too easily dismissed or ignored.

Questioning established narratives and searching for the real women behind the legends, Ramirez interrogates what defines a nation and who gets to build it, shining a light on how history is so often hijacked to serve the ideological and political interests of the present.