In Search of Mary

the long version

Having been smitten by Mary Wollstonecraft's travel book 'Letters Written in Sweden, Norway and Denmark' in her student days, Bee Rowlatt decides to follow, with toddler in tow, in the footsteps of the world's first celebrity feminist in order to explore the vitality of her legacy and retrace the never-dying themes of babies versus career, comparing her encounters with guilt, progress and inequality in the 18th century to those experienced by women today. On this eventful social and biographical treasure hunt they discover wild Norwegian coasts, get chased around a hostile museum in Paris and are rebirthed by naked healers in California. In her quest to chart the progress made by women across the world, Bee finds herself consulting a witch, a porn star, a very quiet Norwegian archivist and the tenants of a blighted council estate in Leeds - finding out more than she bargained for.