For this week's #HistFicThursdays blog, I'm delighted to be welcoming Rosemary Hayward to the blog with a guest post about her new release Strait Lace , as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club tour. Read on to discover the history surrounding this fabulous book. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb It is 1905. Edwardian England. Harriet Loxley, the daughter of a vicar and niece to a prominent Nottingham lace manufacturer, spends her days playing cricket with her brother, scouring the countryside for botanical specimens, and never missing an opportunity to argue the case for political power for women. Given the chance to visit the House of Commons, Harriet witnesses the failure of a historic bill for women’s voting rights. She also meets the formidable Pankhurst women. When Harriet gets the chance to study biology at Bedford College, London, she finds her opportunity to be at the heart of the fight. From marching in the street, to speaking to hostile c...
The first thing to mention about this book was that it was not what I was expecting! I thought, from the blurb and the fact it had been shortlisted for a military literary award, that this would be a military story with a romance, but this is definitely a romance set during a war. Given this difference, it took me a while to get my head into the book
There is a line in the book when Roseen observes how eager and enthused Kelly becomes when he is discussing the Navy, and Dawson's writing is exactly the same. The book springs to life as the campaigning starts and the account of the offensive against Copenhagen is handled skilfully and compassionately. The movements of the military machine were well-researched and the care taken to set the reader in that surrounding is commendable.
I found most of the characters irritating to one degree or another - although this is not a criticism, as I have read plenty of great book with protagonists who annoy me! Roseen I found most annoying of all, and I kept willing various ones of her companions on this journey to push her into the sea. Having said all that, I had a soft spot for Durrell, with whom I most identified, and I felt that he was unfairly treated by Kelly, who had a long way to go on his journey to becoming a gentleman. I did feel that people were either good guys or bad guys, and some shades of grey along the way would have been interesting - especially in terms of Roseen's suiters.
The hard sell for me was how convenient everything seemed to be. I don't want to mention events which will be spoilers, but it is a case of constantly being at the right/wrong place at exactly the right/wrong time. This is fine once or twice (after all, that's what keeps a great adventure going) but it seemed to happen time after time.
Overall, this is a great read for fans of historical romance and happy endings, and we all need that from time to time.
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