Herlands

A powerful and necessary reminder that women’s leadership is not an exception; it is tradition, it is history, and it is the future. With the clarity and care of a journalist who listens deeply, Megha Mohan honours the systems women have sustained for generations

Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, first woman Prime Minister of Samoa

A lantern in the dark, revealing the quiet power of women-led communities across the globe. With lyrical precision and journalistic integrity, Megha Mohan gathers their stories like sacred threads, weaving a tapestry of resilience, leadership, and radical hope

Sulaima Ishaq, head of Sudan’s Combating Violence Against Women and Children Commission

An immersive and absorbing read from a journalist who takes trust, tone and ethics seriously

Bhavana Menon, award-winning actress who inspired India's Women in Cinema Collective

Since history is often literally His Story, it’s a helpful corrective to have books like Herlands that are about women who have always tried to control our own destinies. Herlands is a valuable introduction to some of them, an inspiration for the future

Gloria Steinem, writer and activist

Herlands chronicles the courage and creativity of women building new worlds against all odds. It captures the values I hold most dearly - sustainability and sisterhood. This book is not only timely but transformative

Dr Hilda C. Heine, President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands

A deeply fascinating and wonderfully researched exploration of community that will broaden every reader's mind

Dipo Faloyin, author of Africa Is Not A Country

Megha is not your typical journalist. She is a storyteller who takes you by the hand and guides you into the closed and sacred spaces she has access to because people trust her. She approaches her work with warmth, integrity, empathy, deep attentiveness, and all the rigour of a traditional journalist. Herlands is a book we can all learn from - I only wish it had existed sooner

Karishma Patel, media critic and writer

A must-read that challenges prevailing narratives and sparks vital conversations about women's roles across cultures

Marcus Ryder, journalist and co-author of The Big Payback

Mohan takes a truly intersectional approach as she exposes how narratives about women-only spaces from the global south have been ignored by Western feminism, while her own personal story about her family in India or her interviews with women upholding the inherited traditions of women's spaces in Australia show that women building community is nothing new. I can't wait to buy this book for every woman I know

Sian Norris, journalist and author of Bodies Under Siege

Herlands is a much-needed and compassionate reflection on how different we could be if more women had the freedom to design their own environments

Mary Robinson, first woman President of Ireland

Sometimes I am shocked at my own lack of imagination regarding the roles and accomplishments of women through the ages, until I remind myself that we have been deprived of the great depth of storytelling that has focussed so heavily on 'his' story. What a profound, enlightening and overdue gift is Herlands, not only shining light on half of the humans on the planet but on our unique ability to view nature and humanity as one

Maggie Baird, environmentalist

What begins as a book about women’s communities quickly becomes a defiant and moving record of forgotten history, sidelined heroines, and strategies that have transformed the course of entire groups’ wellbeing and progress. In enlightening us on what is, and once was, Megha reminds us that a more empathetic and inclusive future is not only possible - it’s critical

Sophia Smith Galer, journalist and author

Brilliant. A compassionate and incisive journalist, Mohan has set a new gold standard for modern feminist writing

Monisha Rajesh, author of Moonlight Express

An expansive survey of women-only spaces all over the world… thoroughly researched and intelligently reported

The Times

The best of journalism: asking different questions; telling us stories we haven’t heard before; telling them so well. Megha Mohan takes us with her on her fascinating journey into women’s spaces the world over, providing insights and inspiration we all need now

Lyse Doucet, BBC's Chief International Correspondent