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julie7's review against another edition
4.0
Didn't expect to enjoy this quite a much as I did.
Plenty going on and believable. Made me tear up at one point.
Not a great deal about the suffragette movement, more about the Great War but this book showed us the strength of the main character.
Historical with a hint of romance.
Easy to read.
Plenty going on and believable. Made me tear up at one point.
Not a great deal about the suffragette movement, more about the Great War but this book showed us the strength of the main character.
Historical with a hint of romance.
Easy to read.
stefhyena's review
3.0
The book had a decent sort of a flow and most of the time I was enjoying myself. I was irritated by the way it centred so much on romance, but at the same time if I treated it as a "romance genre" book I could try to allow that for a genre that doesn't appeal to me it was done pretty well. However even so I had two main issues with it.
The first issue was the fact that there was that tired, old cliche- the love triangle. Our heroine has to choose between a steady, dependable "nice guy" and a womaniser with an attitude problem. It all ended differently than I thought it was going to and that misleading by the author was quite good (or maybe just I don't read romance enough to be able to pick the pattern) but both men were really, really unlikeable.
I started off by cringing every time Gervase was in a scene. He was "nice" in a paternalistic, disrespectful sort of a way. Considering Florrie starts off by turning down his offer of marriage he then disrespects her wish to hear no more of it and vows to keep proposing every new year's eve (this becomes a major thing in the book). We are supposed to accept it because even though Florrie feels really uncomfortable, she turns it into a game and manages to be flattered by it. At the same time his "unrequited lover" status leads him to imagine he can judge her life and be angry about things she does (eg being a suffragette) and although at one point she says that he has no right to have an opinion on her life (with the implication that if he was her husband she ought to obey him) in the very next chapter she is melting down because he might be angry at her (for doing her own thing).
Talk about toxic version of "nice guy".
Then we have Ernst. Ernst has frightening mood-swings and keeps Florrie guessing how he will react to her next. Their relationship is completely run along the lines of his desire and convenience- she just gets to wait for him and fit in with his wishes. He is emotionally abusive, jealous, judgemental and it seems there is tightly coiled violence inside him. Without a spoiler about how it all turns out, Florrie ends up deciding that because his work is so damn important then the fact that he is a misogynist, entitled pig is completely understandable and partly her fault.
Sadly she ends up with one of them (and you know from the start it is going to be that way, that the whole story is really about the damn stupid triangle).
The other thing I didn't like was the essentialised crap about motherhood. Isobel once she gets pregnant turns into a boring, boring background character who does nothing apart from being radiantly happy about marriage and motherhood and sad to be parted from her husband who is off fighting the war. She was a suffragette and had so much feminist energy and then suddenly all she wants is to be a domestic nonentity. Florrie is judged for not being so domestically inclined, for wanting to still do feminist stuff and have a life. This is seen as a clue to her not having a "proper" maternal bond to Jacques, because of course if she was really his mother then she would be happy to live in complete dullness nurturing him (as if he is not already over-nurtured by a doting nanny, Grandmother, Great grandmother etc). I was really irritated by Augusta's attitude in these scenes (which is presented as wisdom) and that to me was the most disappointing thing because apart from that I loved the character of Augusta- fearless, feisty, older woman.
The book touched on class and touched on pacifist issues. There was a fair bit of gentle feminism throughout the book which was not quite watered down by all the stereotyping and hetero-normative mess. All characters are white and straight which was perhaps a bit unrealistic given Florrie's travels and involvement in various groups. Relationships between women were beautifully depicted as supportive, caring and non-judgemental. When women were not there for each other, this was portrayed as stemming from various types of anxiety rather than treachery. While it is oversimplifying to idealise women's relationships this way I found it a refreshing read considering how many books have the obligatory "bitch" character.
The book's refusal to slut-shame was also notable and refreshing.
It's a clean, oversimplified little love-story with a heroine you can't help liking (and awful men for her to choose between). If you like things like Anne of Green Gables then you will possibly find something here to enjoy as well. I didn't hate it.
The first issue was the fact that there was that tired, old cliche- the love triangle. Our heroine has to choose between a steady, dependable "nice guy" and a womaniser with an attitude problem. It all ended differently than I thought it was going to and that misleading by the author was quite good (or maybe just I don't read romance enough to be able to pick the pattern) but both men were really, really unlikeable.
I started off by cringing every time Gervase was in a scene. He was "nice" in a paternalistic, disrespectful sort of a way. Considering Florrie starts off by turning down his offer of marriage he then disrespects her wish to hear no more of it and vows to keep proposing every new year's eve (this becomes a major thing in the book). We are supposed to accept it because even though Florrie feels really uncomfortable, she turns it into a game and manages to be flattered by it. At the same time his "unrequited lover" status leads him to imagine he can judge her life and be angry about things she does (eg being a suffragette) and although at one point she says that he has no right to have an opinion on her life (with the implication that if he was her husband she ought to obey him) in the very next chapter she is melting down because he might be angry at her (for doing her own thing).
Talk about toxic version of "nice guy".
Then we have Ernst. Ernst has frightening mood-swings and keeps Florrie guessing how he will react to her next. Their relationship is completely run along the lines of his desire and convenience- she just gets to wait for him and fit in with his wishes. He is emotionally abusive, jealous, judgemental and it seems there is tightly coiled violence inside him. Without a spoiler about how it all turns out, Florrie ends up deciding that because his work is so damn important then the fact that he is a misogynist, entitled pig is completely understandable and partly her fault.
Sadly she ends up with one of them (and you know from the start it is going to be that way, that the whole story is really about the damn stupid triangle).
The other thing I didn't like was the essentialised crap about motherhood. Isobel once she gets pregnant turns into a boring, boring background character who does nothing apart from being radiantly happy about marriage and motherhood and sad to be parted from her husband who is off fighting the war. She was a suffragette and had so much feminist energy and then suddenly all she wants is to be a domestic nonentity. Florrie is judged for not being so domestically inclined, for wanting to still do feminist stuff and have a life. This is seen as a clue to her not having a "proper" maternal bond to Jacques, because of course if she was really his mother then she would be happy to live in complete dullness nurturing him (as if he is not already over-nurtured by a doting nanny, Grandmother, Great grandmother etc). I was really irritated by Augusta's attitude in these scenes (which is presented as wisdom) and that to me was the most disappointing thing because apart from that I loved the character of Augusta- fearless, feisty, older woman.
The book touched on class and touched on pacifist issues. There was a fair bit of gentle feminism throughout the book which was not quite watered down by all the stereotyping and hetero-normative mess. All characters are white and straight which was perhaps a bit unrealistic given Florrie's travels and involvement in various groups. Relationships between women were beautifully depicted as supportive, caring and non-judgemental. When women were not there for each other, this was portrayed as stemming from various types of anxiety rather than treachery. While it is oversimplifying to idealise women's relationships this way I found it a refreshing read considering how many books have the obligatory "bitch" character.
The book's refusal to slut-shame was also notable and refreshing.
It's a clean, oversimplified little love-story with a heroine you can't help liking (and awful men for her to choose between). If you like things like Anne of Green Gables then you will possibly find something here to enjoy as well. I didn't hate it.
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