We talk to the Islington Tribune about No Surrender
It was a critical time for the suffragette movement: by 1911, the campaign had made an impact on the public debate. But seeking electoral equality was not progressing quickly and the cause was on the cusp of employing more direct – and sometimes violent – action.
It was against this backdrop that novelist Constance Maud penned No Surrender – a heartfelt work of fiction that tells the story of two women working to secure their democratic rights.
Re-published in 2011, to mark the 100th anniversary, it has now been adapted into graphic novel form by sisters Sophie and Scarlett Rickard.
It was read as a call to arms, told through the story of mill worker Jenny Clegg, who lives in a northern industrial town.
Jenny experiences a male world that places obstacles in her way at every turn: from the managers who force back-breaking labour to hard-drinking men, Jenny can see a life of unrelenting suffering and continuous exertion laid out for her. But Jenny fights back – and we follow her journey from Lancashire’s cobbled streets to the thoroughfares of London, and watch as she comes up against entrenched interests who are more than willing to use State-sponsored violence against Jenny. It feels like an addition to the tacitly accepted, everyday domestic violence all women were subjected to.
This is a fascinating story and equally an important piece of social history – deserving a modern audience. But written in a language that reads like a period piece, No Surrender was ready to be updated.
The sisters scored a publishing sensation in 2020, when their graphic novel adaptation of Robert Tressell’s seminal socialist novel, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, illustrated the thirst for this type of story.
Graphic novel publishers Self Made Hero, based in King’s Cross, have earned a reputation for finding new ways to use the genre to cast a light on modern storytelling. They range from the noir and thriller to social realism and political tales.
“Tressell was a decorator who wrote about economics from his working-class point of view, and died in poverty in 1911 before it was published,” says Scarlett. “It was a difficult book in prose form, and we wanted to make it more accessible because it contains important ideas.”
As they saw the success of their work translating Tressell into another literary form, Maud’s book came on their radar.
“No Surrender is like a sister volume to The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists,” says Scarlett. “Maud was an active suffragette, writing fiction in the same era about her authentic experience of living a marginalised life. While The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists examined the arguments for and against socialism, No Surrender explores the battle for equality, how women were regarded, and the ethics of civil disobedience.”
The pair are recent arrivals in the graphic novel world and are planning a third political tome from the same era.
“We don’t have a traditional comics background,” says Sophie. “Scarlett is a working artist and has done illustration and design in lots of different fields. Our inspirations in the world of graphic fiction are rather juvenile – Janet and Allan Ahlberg, Jan Pieńkowski and the Guardian strips of Posy Simmonds – all important influences.”
The source material lent itself to an illustrated retelling, they said.
“The original novel is written in a visual style, and was less of a challenge to adapt than The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. What makes No Surrender work is the way the relevance to our current lives shines through the story.
“Edwardian novels can be long-winded and heavy going, but in this format you get pure action. A story all about ‘Deeds not Words’ is ideal for the graphic format.”
Illustrating London in 1910 required research. No Surrender has a deeply immersive world for the words to play out across.
“We have begun to think of the 1910s as ‘our era’ and relish the task of world-building in an authentic way,” says Scarlett. “Design, style and subtle social cues about relative prosperity are all part of the book’s richness. We have to think about things like lighting – electricity, gas, or candles? – and transport – motor car, horse or walking? – in different ways without getting carried away with historical detail.”
No Surrender, they felt, could be tweaked to bring Maud’s message to an audience 110 years after it was written. Finding ways to update it the story without losing its power was key, the sisters say.
“No Surrender is a good book with engaging characters, exciting events and romance,” says Sophie. “What you don’t see in the graphic novel are the bits we left out – cringey dialogue, references modern readers wouldn’t understand and extraneous detail. We hope people familiar with the original will feel we’ve done it justice.”
“We saw its potential,” adds Scarlett. “The novel stands the test of time, although we edited out several instances of racist cultural norms. It shows even people with equality in their hearts can have blind spots.”
The sisters grew up in Lancashire – and their heroine is from the same county.
“Jenny Clegg is a wonderful working-class hero,” says Sophie. “We were drawn to her vitality and turn of phrase because of our childhoods. No Surrender was written in part as a recruiting tool for the suffrage movement, and the way it explores things from the point of view of all kinds of women from all walks of life adds to the sense of unity. Jenny, Mary and Alice all have individual strengths and challenges, and there is something there to relate to.”
Books like Maud’s No Surrender have survived by being discovered by a narrow set of readers – historians and activists. By moving the action from Maud’s prose to their eye catching illustrations, the sisters hope her message reaches as many as possible.
“Our graphic novel of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists has gone down well with people who love the original, and with people who’d never heard of it before,” says Scarlett. “The graphic storytelling medium has made Tressell’s political ideas accessible to a new generation. It’s a great way to revive older books that deserve more attention.”
