‘Sensible Footwear: A Girl's Guide will be a crucial cornerstone in building our future by making sure we remember our past. And Kate’s style – feisty, questioning, open, witty and sometimes angry—is the perfect vehicle to communicate that lived history of feminism, activism and liberation history in a uniquely accessible way. I can’t wait to get my hands on it.’ – Val McDermid
‘Sensible Footwear: A Girl's Guide is a stunning achievement – as a graphic study of LGBT history, and as a memoir of growing up gay in the 1950s onwards. Kate's fluid and tellingly detailed drawing reveals not only the frustrations and traumas of lesbian life, but also the laughter and camaraderie... and a glorious cavalcade of gay icons.' – Posy Simmonds
‘Loved the weaving together of personal history and broader LGBTQ+ history. The ending made me laugh and cheer.' – Gemma, Goodreads
‘Edinburgh-based Kate Charlesworth's brilliant graphic novel is a memoir and study of LGBT history from 1950 to present day. It's packed full of info and so relevant this month.' – Heather Lindsay, Twitter
‘Unbelievable. Gorgeous pages full of 60+ years of personal and political stories woven together as a narrative. Never read anything like it and want to pick it up and start again.' – Jessica, Good Reads
‘The first of its kind to concentrate on lesbian history, it's absolutely jam-packed with key moments in LGBTQI+ history important political developments, gay icons, deeply relatable personal experiences and poignant observations of the hostility suffered by the queer community in post-war Britain and - *still* - today.' – Shelflife Cardiff
‘Extremely hard to put down.' – Jodie Reads Books, Bookstagram
‘9/10. Glorious! This is the most wonderful, endearing, heartbreaking book. One to read and reread.' – Quick Book Reviews, Bookstagram
‘Kate says this of Roger Baker, journalist and gay rights activist, on page 191: "Roger was always inclusive in his writing and journalism. Genders, sexualities, ethnicities, abilities. He got LGBTQIA+ in a pre-hashtag age…" And Kate Charlesworth gets it in this one.' The Book Hive Bookshop, Norwich
‘I read this graphic novel for Pride Month and I am obsessed with the art style. Really informative - it is packed full of factual and anecdotal history of the Gay Rights Movement in the UK but also the life experiences of Kate as a lesbian woman... I’d definitely recommend picking it up.' - Star Planet Books, bookstagrammer
‘While it's an intensely personal and intimate work, Sensible Footwear also chronicles LGBTQ+ history extensively and wants to spark curiosity about its forgotten figures. You'll want to take notes! It's clear a mountain of work went into this book and it deserves its place on your bookshelf!' – Last Lovers Arc, bookstagrammer
‘Why are we not taught more of this in schools? The book is full to bursting with LGBT history and features lots of LGBT icons. Sometimes there was so much information on the pages that it felt less like a graphic novel and more like a scrapbook, which I really liked.' – Ida Know Thyself, bookstagramer, 4/4 star review
‘Moving, informative, funny and beautifully drawn…as vivid a history of queer life as the general reader could hope to find. What happened…is only meaningful when we have the wherewithal to imagine what it was like. This beautiful and generous memoir gives us that.' – Oliver Arditi
‘A must in LGBT readings.' – Sallychinaski, Bookstagrammer
‘Hugely visually inventive, sometimes tragic, often hilarious. Finishing it, I felt bereft.' – Swithun Cooper, British Council Literature
‘A recent favourite [comic] of mine is Sensible Footwear by Kate Charlesworth, which grants a vivid insight into life as a lesbian during the shifting socio-political climate in the UK since the 50s – a story both vital, angry and uplifting and somehow largely unreported.' – Hannah Berry, UK Comic Laureate, I News
‘I loved this book. Much of the joy is the combination of learning new things and recognising faces. Intersectional. Not TERFy. And gives the best account of the trajectory over the 80s and 90s of that space between Clause 28 and repeal that I’ve seen. Recommended.' – Farah Mendlesohn
‘Sensible Footwear is the realistic LGBTQ+ material we’ve all been waiting for... Some of the most intriguing non-fiction narrative I’ve had the pleasure of reading in a long while. The attention to detail is phenomenal. I can’t recommend this multi-media masterpiece enough.' – Sophie Clay for The Comic Lounge 9/10 star review
‘As well as being a memoir of her life, the book is also a document of what has happened in queer history. One little tidbit I got from the book was that Calamity Jane was an undercover queer classic! The book makes you think of things much more politically. I, as a member of the queer community, had forgotten just how recent all the changes are, good and bad, and it was really good to be reminded of that in a non-preachy way.' – Simon Savidge: Top Five Nonfiction Books for BBC Radio 5 Live
‘This book has been a highlight of my year. Sensible Footwear is a real achievement and something I’ll definitely keep going back to.' – Turnaround 2019 Graphic Novels Staff Picks
‘This personal history of British LGBTQ life leaves no stone unturned. It is an amazing, joyous panorama to which I could never do justice in a short review. Let me, then, just say this. Sensible Footwear is an instant classic. It’s hard to imagine a reader who wouldn’t enjoy it.' The Observer Graphic Novel of the Month
‘What a superbly structured, brilliant but biting history and vital entertainment this is! It is laugh! It’s a riot! It is a genuine milestone. No wonder Posy Simmonds is in love with it. Refreshingly structured, full of vital historical LGBT+ struggle and FUNNY to boot! I've TRIPLED our order.' – Stephen Holland, Page 45
‘Sensible Footwear encourages the reader by example to think of possibilities for behaviour and community outside of the bounds of what already exists. The parity of rights across genders and sexualities is necessary to protect people from discrimination based on their preferences but... offering the right for anyone to get married, for example, does not pare down the dominance of the institution of heterosexuality. Instead, it invites people outside the institution to subscribe to its ideal as it continues to reign supreme.' – Steff Humm, The Artful
‘ It is a triumph to cram so much of our complex history in picture form and will I think make it a very important book that will inspire people to find out more. The history pages are fascinating and I learnt new stories and was reminded of old stories and issues I had forgotten.' – Sue Sanders, LGBT History Month UK
‘[An] incomparably brilliant graphic queer history.' – Uli Lenart
‘A wonderfully colourful and candid book, full of Charlesworth's crisp, clean, simple lines and her nuanced vision of human complexity.' – Teddy Jamieson, Herald Scotland
‘Undoubtedly one of the most crucial graphic memoirs of the year.' – Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier
‘Not since Alison Bechdel's Fun Home has there been such an important graphic memoir. A striking achievement in comic form, Sensible Footwear should be on everyone's bookshelves.' – Erica Gillingham, DIVA Magazine
‘Kate’s beautiful graphic novel Sensible Footwear: A Girl’s Guide is set to be the go-to text for LGBTQ+ history. It’s also a stunning lesbian graphic memoir and social history of postwar Britain. For me, visually, it kept evoking Sally Heathcote Suffragette and Alice in Sunderland. Vibrant, funny, sometimes angry, it’s essential reading that belongs on every bookshelf.' – Mary Talbot
‘Sensible Footwear is a glorious political and personal history that gives Pride a run for its money; but, like Pride, it wears its heart at the centre, making the invisible visible, and celebrating lesbian lives from the domestic to the diva.' – Turnaround Blog: 2019 Queer Lit Preview
‘You will LOVE Sensible Footwear by Kate Charlesworth, it's jaw-droppingly detailed and insightful.' – Ninja Book Box
‘Newsworthy, covetable and will become a classic.' – Adele Patrick, Glasgow Women’s Library
‘The often hidden history of lesbians in Britain from 1950 to the present comes alive through the vivid re-creations of acclaimed cartoonist Kate Charlesworth. Sensible Footwear engagingly documents decades of changes in the LGBTQ+ life.' – Paul Gravett for The Bookseller
‘Sensible Footwear is a glorious political and personal history that gives Pride a run for its money; but, like Pride, it wears its heart at the centre, making the invisible visible, and celebrating lesbian lives from the domestic to the diva.' – Turnaround Blog
‘Kate’s insightful work has illuminated and documented LGBTQ life – an important work.' – David Isaac, chair of Equality and Human Rights Commission
‘A Girl’s Guide to Sensible Footwear will be a crucial cornerstone in building our future by making sure we remember our past. And Kate’s style – feisty, questioning, open, witty and sometimes angry – is the perfect vehicle to communicate that lived history of feminism, activism and liberation history in a uniquely accessible way. I can’t wait to get my hands on it.' – Val McDermid
