Runaway Wives and Rogue Feminists: The Origins of the Women’s Shelter Movement
By Margo Goodhand
Fernwood Publishing, $20

Runaway Wives and Rogue Feminists by journalist Margo Goodhand is a detailed account of the start of the women’s shelter movement across Canada. Featuring many first-hand accounts, Goodhand’s storytelling quickly enthralls readers in a dark history in which Canadian women opened the first shelters despite having no money and little public support. Though it doesn’t relate to Indigenous women or the need for intersectional feminism until the end, readers will undoubtedly be stirred into action by learning about a past that is crucial for informing our future as it reminds us that growing numbers of women’s shelters isn’t what the original runaway wives and rogue feminists had intended.