To the casual observer, Caroline Norton had it all – beauty, wit, glamour, a flourishing literary career, a good marriage and three adorable children. In reality, she was a survivor of domestic violence, who, when her marriage broke down, found herself mired in public scandal, legally shackled to her husband and forcibly kept from her children.

 

The system seemed rigged against her, but Caroline's instinct was to fight. Her traumatic experiences led her to rip up the patriarchal laws that punished her and rewarded her abuser, and her tireless campaigning would see the first feminist legislation to defend women's rights pass into UK law.