SOURCE: “Fight for Feminism,” in Washington Post Book World, Vol. XV, No. 17, April 28, 1985, p. 10.

In the following review, Griffith offers a negative assessment of Significant Sisters, stating that several of Forster's stylistic choices detract from the work's achievements.

In her first foray into female biography, British novelist (Georgy Girl) and biographer (Thackeray) Margaret Forster provides an easy introduction to women's history through brief biographies of eight important and engaging English and American feminists. Significant Sisters: The Grassroots of Active Feminism, 1839–1939. The Americans include Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to meet male standards to practice medicine; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who launched the woman suffrage campaign in 1848; and Margaret Sanger, the birth control pioneer. Less well known to American readers will be the British entries: Caroline Norton, who challenged English laws forbidding married women property rights, maternal custody of children, and divorce; Florence Nightingale, who established the nursing profession; Emily...