In early 20th century Britain, society was changing rapidly, but not much was changing for women.
From different ends of the social spectrum, Celia Mapperley and May Hallam wrestle with rules and circumstances beyond their control and must navigate love, sex, war, and the thin line between conformity and scandal. As they each bear the shame of a devastating family secret, their stories come together in ways that neither could have imagined.
Fiona J. Mackintosh is a Scottish-American author living in Washington D.C. whose
fiction draws from both sides of the Atlantic. Her flash fiction collection, The Yet Unknowing World (Ad Hoc Fiction, 2021), was a runner-up for the 2021 Saboteur Award for best short story collection, and her debut novel Ancestral Virgins will be published on June 26, 2026. Her flashes were selected for Best Small Fictions in 2023 and 2019, and her short stories have been finalists in the Cairde Word, Colm Toíbín, Bristol, Galley Beggar, Exeter, and Fish Short Story Prizes. She is a proud recipient of an Individual Artist’s Award from the Maryland State Arts Council. http://www.fionajmackintosh.com
My thoughts: The early 20th century was a time of huge change and upheaval, social, political and personal. Women were demanding their rights and the world would never be the same again, for anyone.
Lady Celia Mapperley is trapped by her family’s old-fashioned rules and society’s expectations. Her parents want her to marry well, and ideally wealth. They have the title and seat in the House of Lords, but are running low on money, as many noble families did. But her secret and dangerous relationship with her brother Makepeace could destroy her whole life.
May Hallam lives with her mother and siblings in a tied cottage, her father’s job as a waggoner gave them their home and her brothers taking over the role keeps them there. But war looms and her brothers decide to sign up and go to France. May protects her brother Davey, who has Down’s Syndrome, but if they lose their home, the only one he knows, can May still protect him?
As the two young women’s stories collide at the railway station, both will have to be brave, confront the past and step into an uncertain future.
I found the story moving and at times terribly sad, both May and Celia suffer losses and find themselves living a life they never really wanted. In a way both are also marked by their relationship with their brother (although May has several it is Davey who dominates her life) and are shaped by that.
As the book ends it isn’t clear what the future holds for either one, May hopes to find her lost sister Lily and establish a home with her and Davey, while Celia must return to the husband and life she doesn’t love and contend with the damage Makepeace did to her. Neither can say for certainty what will happen to them next. Which leaves all sorts of questions and possibilities for the reader to ponder.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 