Florence Nightingales "Suggestions for Thought" has intrigued readers from feminist-philosopher J S Mill (who used it in his The Subjection of Women) to the latest generation of womens activists. Although selections from this long work have been published, Lynn McDonald is the first editor to work through the numerous surviving drafts of Nightingales writing and present it as a complete volume. "Suggestions for Thought" contains two early attempted novels, draft sermons, and a lengthy fictional dialogue featuring St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits, the American evangelical Jacob Abbott, and British agnostic Harriet Martineau (with cameo appearances by Protestant reformer John Calvin and the poet Shelley) all against an unnamed "M.S." . The most famous section is the essay 'Cassandra', famous as a rant against the family for stifling womens aspirations. Here the printed text is shown with the original novel draft alongside. McDonalds introductions to each section provide historical context and Nightingales later views of the work.