This engrossing story of an extraordinary life is filled with lessons in what it means to be human' - Financial Times Whether the challenges are being a child refugee, having an autistic child or creating a fortune (then giving it all away) by founding a tech company at a time when women were supposed to be home baking bread, Dame Stephanie Shirley's cinematic memoir inspires us all to keep reaching. Never stop reaching." - David Puttnam

By the early 1960s, now a British citizen and married with a new name, Stephanie Shirley was becoming frustrated with the low expectations, inequality and sexism that women faced in the workplace. She decided to start her own company, selling software. It was called Freelance Programmers, and it was staffed by women working from home, blazing a trail for flexible working practices for women with caring responsibilities. 297 of the first 300 staff were women. At the time, when a woman couldn’t open a bank account without her husband’s permission, this idea was truly revolutionary.This is an incredibly inspirational book by a very determined lady who has faced more challenges in her life than the majority of us ever will. I notice that some other reviewers say that her description of how she steered and grew her company from a small cottage startup to huge software consultancy business was the least interesting part of this book. Working in IT myself, I found it fascinating. Some of her ideas were quite novel:- from the start there was an emphasis on quality and good process and project management. She went through good and bad times and the usual struggles that come from a growing business. What I appreciated was that she names so many people and gives credit to them. She had a desire to hand over the company to the employees, something like the "John Lewis" model. The employees though, were less interested in owning and running the company for themselves than getting the hard cash reward of shares, 70 of whom became millionaires as a result. (It was the 1990s).

Now with all that being said, some of the ins and outs about her business endeavors, weren't so interesting and lagged in spots. But that doesn't take away from the fact that her life was interesting and she used her money for good. Das Konzept von Mrs Shirleys Firma ist simpel: Home Office und Teilzeit sowie auf Selbstständigen Basis. Modern eben. Und das in den 60igern. An extremely driven, intelligent and talented woman. But also a human being. After her traumatic childhood, her adult life had more than a fair share of unhappiness and distress, health issues, including a total nervous breakdown at one point.I wasn't expecting to give this a low rating, I've seen Dame Shirley speak and she is inspirational. Most of this book was 4 star. Her early life as a refugee and the founding of her freelance company and it's growth are fascinating. This fascinating memoir charts Dame Stephanie's life from her time as a child in Germany and arrival in England as an unaccompanied Kindertransport refugee through to her retirement and dedication to charity. It is an amazing read which will take you through the entire range of emotions - from happiness at the success of her original company Freelance Programmers through to the ultimate sadness of losing her only child.