This is a fascinating story and equally an important piece of social history – deserving a modern audience. While The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists examined the arguments for and against socialism, No Surrender explores the battle for equality, how women were regarded, and the ethics of civil disobedience. Hailed by Emily Wilding Davison as “a book which breathes the very spirit of our Women’s Movement”, the fast paced story interweaves the lives of women from all classes working together to bring about change. Maud was an active suffragette, writing fiction in the same era about her authentic experience of living a marginalised life.

No Surrender – Constance Maud’s 1911 Novel on Women’s Fight No Surrender – Constance Maud’s 1911 Novel on Women’s Fight

Jenny Clegg is a mill worker whose chance encounter with the well-to-do Mary O’Neil will see both women become close allies in the fight to give women the vote. But Jenny fights back – and we follow her journey from Lancashire’s cobbled streets to the thoroughfares of London, and watch as she comes up against entrenched interests who are more than willing to use State-sponsored violence against Jenny.

But in the end, No Surrender, in its comic book form, involves relatively little debate, or even high-minded conversation. This version is in full vibrant colour and reveals the stories of the characters, which were based on real people, including mill workers from Lancashire and wealthy society women.

No Surrender by Scarlett and Sophie Rickard review – the long

The original novel is written in a visual style, and was less of a challenge to adapt than The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. We have begun to think of the 1910s as ‘our era’ and relish the task of world-building in an authentic way,” says Scarlett. Every page looks splendid, whether we’re huddled in the kitchen of a tiny terrace in the fictional mill town where the story begins, or lazing in the summer sunshine on the expansive lawns of its more upper-class protagonists. The graphic format is the embodiment of the suffrage rally-cry of “Deeds not Words” and this book is the perfect sister-volume to their stunning adaptation of the socialist classic The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Jenny’s focus has become the fight for the vote for women which she sees is the route to equality before the law and genuine hope for women.

But in this case Constance Maud’s No Surrender, first published in 1911, is admittedly less celebrated despite its vital importance in depicting the fight for votes for women in the UK.