TRAILBLAZING WOMEN CHALLENGED LIMITATIONS

AS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS

STARRY AND RESTLESS: THREE WOMEN WHO CHANGED WORK, WRITING, AND THE WORLD

By Julia Cooke, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2026, 448pp.

Reviewed by Richard Corbett

(Reviewer’s Note: This review first appeared in Historical Novels Review, the journal of the Historical Novel Society, February 2026 Issue 115).

This superbly-researched work of non-fiction provides a robust account of the lengthy careers of three journalists and authors—Rebecca West, Martha Gellhorn and Emily “Mickey” Hahn. All three writers were prolific, publishing numerous novels and non-fiction books across a broad array of subjects, and reporting on foreign affairs for the preeminent magazines of the mid-twentieth century—The New Yorker, Collier’s and Harper’s, as just some examples.

Rather than succumbing to journalistic traditions set by men— traditions that would have restricted them to writing about fashion trends or home décor—West, Gellhorn and Hahn harnessed their outstanding skills and inborn restlessness to travel and write relentlessly. Often while having novels in progress, they informed the world about the suffering of ordinary people caught up in global conflicts, most notably: the bombing of London during WWII (West), the Spanish Civil War (Gellhorn) and the Sino-Japanese War (Hahn).

Author Cooke vividly captures the inner lives of these groundbreaking writers, and the grit and determination it took for them to roam the world while enduring the hardships of war, disruptions to family life, and the stigma that was attached to women who traveled alone. Insightful, well-written and informative. Highly recommended.