GOSSIPS : Whispers, Witch Hunts and the Power of Women's Friendships

Once, the word ‘gossip’ didn’t mean idle chatter and unkind rumour. A woman’s gossips were her ride or dies, her friends for life, her BFFs.

But something crucial changed.

In Gossips, award-winning podcaster and journalist India Rakusen takes an electrifying look at female friendship – the joys, the tricky parts and the deep suspicion these relationships have always aroused – right up to what it means today. She explores how, for centuries, women were not thought capable of true friendship, the many (many) different ways that women daring to gather together have been targeted, and what we’ve gained – and lost – as female friendship became the gold standard.

From how genders are socialised differently almost from birth and the intensity of platonic teenage relationships, to how we engage with our friends when we fall in love, give birth and grow old, Gossips is the definitive look at the enduring power – and ancient threat – of female friendship.