pAn exuberant group biography--a splendidly various collection of 'brief lives' written with both gusto and sensitivity emThe Guardianem--that follows ten women in 1950s Britain whose pioneering lives paved the way for feminism and laid the foundation of modern women's success.ppIn emHer Brilliant Careerem, Rachel Cooke goes back in time to offer an entertaining and iconoclastic look at ten women in the 1950s--pioneers whose professional careers and complicated private lives helped to create the opportunities available to today's women. These plucky and ambitious individuals--among them a film director, a cook, an architect, an editor, an archaeologist, a race car driver--left the house, discovered the bliss of work, and ushered in the era of the working woman. ppDaring and independent, these remarkable unsung heroines--whose obscurity makes their accomplishments all the more astonishing and relevant --loved passionately, challenged men's control, made their own mistakes, and took life