Today I have a review of the newest release by Lissa Evans, Old Baggage, available from Harper Perennial on April 16, 2019!
My Thoughts:
Matilda Simpkin is living in 1928 London. She’s found a wooden club, something she hasn’t seen for a while, and along with it comes the memories she associates with that item.
You see, Mattie was a suffragette years earlier. She was jailed five times and was quite the spitfire. She longs for that excitement and purpose again. She finds her life boring by comparison now.
Mattie runs into an old friend and fellow suffragette who is fighting for Fascism. This gives Mattie an epiphany; she needs to engage the younger generation of women via founding the Amazons. The purpose of the group is for the women to exercise, both in body and in mind.
Everything is running smoothly, and Mattie is happy with the group’s purpose when a new member joins that brings in Mattie’s past, things she doesn’t want to address.
I loved this quirky and fun story. Mattie is a brilliant and charming main character. She’s formidable and fights hard for her life passions. She’s a leader and isn’t afraid to say and do the hard things. How inspiring is that? She made me think and feel and those are the things I love most in a main character. It is intriguing and thought-provoking to consider after good portions of their lives dedicated to endlessly fight for the right to vote, what did these women go on to do, once voting rights were granted? How does one find purpose again after a victory won in that way?
I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
Synopsis:
The author of the acclaimed Crooked Heart returns with a comic, charming, and surprisingly timely portrait of a once pioneering suffragette trying to find her new passion in post-WWI era London.
1928. Riffling through a cupboard, Matilda Simpkin comes across a small wooden club—an old possession that she hasn’t seen for more than a decade. Immediately, memories come flooding back to Mattie—memories of a thrilling past, which only further serve to remind her of her chafingly uneventful present. During the Women’s Suffrage Campaign, she was a militant who was jailed five times and never missed an opportunity to return to the fray. Now in middle age, the closest she gets to the excitement of her old life is the occasional lecture on the legacy of the militant movement.
After running into an old suffragette comrade who has committed herself to the wave of Fascism, Mattie realizes there is a new cause she needs to fight for and turns her focus to a new generation of women. Thus the Amazons are formed, a group created to give girls a place to not only exercise their bodies but their minds, and ignite in young women a much-needed interest in the world around them. But when a new girl joins the group, sending Mattie’s past crashing into her present, every principle Mattie has ever stood for is threatened.
Old Baggage is a funny and bittersweet portrait of a woman who has never given up the fight and the young women who are just discovering it.
Have you read Old Baggage, or is it on your TBR? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR
Lovely review! I really must read my copy!
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Thanks, Nicki! Oh, yes! I can’t wait to hear what you think of this one!
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Wonderful review and picture, Jennifer! I love sleeping Harper!
I put this feminist lit on my tbr list. Enjoy your weekend! 🌸🌸❤️📚🐾🐾🌺🌺😍
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Thanks, Virginia! Aww! You will absolutely love this quirky main character! So much fun! I hope you had a lovely weekend! 💕 🐱
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Awesome review Jen! Gorgeous picture too! Happy Friday my friend!!🙋💙🌺
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Thanks so much, Sus! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! ♥️
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OMG that cute cat in the picture 😀 ❤️ 🐾
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Thanks, Bibi! ♥️ I adopted three (OH MY) cats after Christmas when I lost my second fur baby in a year. 😞 These three show up in my blog pics often these days! ♥️
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Oh no Jen, I’m so sorry to hear about your loss 😥 I know that pain all too well! Oh my indeed, three new trouble makers that’s pawesome ♥️
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Thanks so much, Bibi! ♥️ I know you do! 💕
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Sounds like a good story. I always like a book about strong women. Happy Saturday, Jennifer!
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Thank you, Marialyce! Me, too- love it when our female characters are formidable!
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Quirky is a fabulous way to describe a book! 🙂 Lovely review, as usual, Jennifer!
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Thanks, Chrissi! This was an English suffragette, which I found so fascinating!
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Gorgeous review Jenni. You know how I love a strong female lead! This looks amazing. 😁
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Thanks, Beth! Yes! And it’s a feminist book about a British suffragette! It’s got your name all over it! ♥️
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This sounds like fun, and an interesting question – what do campaigners do once they’ve achieved what they were campaigning about? Ha! Having nearly always been on the losing side in any campaign, maybe I need to read this to find out… 😉
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😂 I liked that this main character was part of the English suffrage movement because I didn’t know much about that! She was such a fun, clever, quirky character!
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Mattie sounds like quite the main character – love a person who isn’t afraid to speak hard truths. Also, as a whole, I think I need to read more about the plight of early suffragists and feminists.
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Me, too, LP! I loved that this was about an English suffragist because that was something I knew even less about.
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Sadly, I know so little about the early women’s movement. This looks like it would be a great place to start. Wonderful review, Jennifer!
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Thanks, Jonetta! This was especially fascinating because it was in England, and I didn’t know much about the women’s movement there.
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