A women's club based on the sharing of a meal and discussion paper once a month, the Catalysts was formed in 1919, "at a time when women were breaking free from expected patterns, speaking out, driving their own motorcar ... riding bicycles or taking up rifle shooting". Early members included doctors, scientists, historians and Victoria's first woman lawyer; one of them was a daughter of Alfred Deakin. Anne Longmire's fascinating history sketches the lives of some extraordinary women as well as tracing their passions and concerns through the monthly discussion papers. It is at once an encounter with some of Melbourne's most influential women, and a marker of social change in the years 1910-2010. (Book cover).