Towards the end of the nineteenth century, when the female brain was considered five ounces lighter than the male brain, the first of Britain's women students bravely enrolled at university. From wildly different backgrounds and with only a passion for learning in common, they faced dismissal as mere 'bonnets' and wild rioting when a vote was taken to offer these 'undergraduettes' a recognized degree. But from their teachers and parents they enjoyed unimaginable kindnesses. Through the inspiring and moving words of the women themselves, Jane Robinson explores the sacrifices they made, the prejudice they met, and the determination, friendship and knowledge they found through their ground-breaking, hard-won educations.