Women Don't Owe You Pretty: The record-breaking best-selling book every woman needs

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To date, neither Eggerue’s or Florence’s publishers have voiced any concern that there is copyright infringement or plagiarism at play. At the stage I’m at in life it wasn’t particularly anything new, but reaffirming and empowering to read all the same. The dismissive and melodramatic language used to describe the issue not only ignores, but perpetuates, the systemic problems that need to be addressed.

We still had till mid-January to work together and we had even done some jobs together during this remaining 3 month period. She explained: “I amicably ended my contract with Diving Bell with a 3 months notice back in October. Given also informs her followers that her book went to her publishers in November 2019, whilst Eggerue’s was released in February 2020. However, Eggurue’s first book, What a Time to be Alone was published in 2018 and is cited in the very first page of Women Don’t Owe You Pretty.This is an unsurprising feature as Given is primarily an artist and anyone who has seen her Instagram page will be familiar with her illustration style. Florence responded to Chidera saying: “You’ve outright denied my entire reality, multiple times in your messages. I also reflected upon my own internalised misogyny, and how it’s common amongst women to weaponise another woman’s flaws to make themselves feel better. From start to finish you are taken on a journey that continuously questions societal notions and their effect on you. In an article for The Guardian in 2019, Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo wrote about Eggerue’s debut novel, and seemed to predict the future by questioning the longevity of the demand for young Black female authors.

The responses are overwhelmingly belittling, as it is easier to focus attention elsewhere, rather than to address the issue of marginalised Black voices. Women Don’t Owe You Pretty has occupied a space in the Sunday Times top five for twelve consecutive weeks since its publication. By focusing upon specific aspects of the books, or on the use of Instagram as an ‘arena’, the real trend is intentionally sidetracked. But the controversy has continued as Chidera has made lots of comments on her Instagram stories and posted screenshots of WhatsApp conversations between herself and Florence. Chidera claimed that Florence’s new book, Women Don’t Owe You Pretty ,‘”looks the same” as her 2018 book, What a Time To Be Alone.

One of these in her book is, ‘feeling guilty for past mistakes and behaviours does nothing for you or the people you harmed, unless you use it to change your behaviour’.