• Home
  • Blog
  • Only May
  • Wild Spinning Girls
  • Snow Sisters
  • Ghostbird
  • Contact

Making it up as I go along

Making it up as I go along

Tag Archives: The White Camellia

Unexpected book review in blogging area

09 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Book Review, Honno, The White Camellia

Island Life, Word Birds & Process #23

I rarely add book reviews here. I don’t have many followers & this is where I tend to rattle on about my own writing. If I can’t support a sister Honno author here however, where can I? Well, yes, on Amazon & I’ve done that – we all know who’s in charge of promotion & stats!

*Curtsies to Amazon*

Juliet Greenwood writes historical mystery stories with a twist. She lives in north Wales, has a penchant for Cornwall (as do I) old houses (me too) & a story with a secret (tick.) She is unswervingly kind to other authors. She also has great taste in frocks.

img-20160917-00366

The White Camellia, is published by Honno, the Welsh Women’s Press. It’s fabulous.

My review

This is Juliet Greenwood’s third novel and in my view, her best to date. Her writing has matured, settings are beautifully drawn; characters leap off the page insisting on being heard. And in The White Camellia, they have a great deal to say. The women in particular, although the author writes men well – the good, the bad and the ones you really couldn’t give tuppence for!

Anyone interested in the grass roots aspect of the women’s suffrage movement will be intrigued by this story. Set aside for a while the more famously chronicled activities of Mrs Pankhurst, her suffragettes and her campaign of direct action. Take a seat in The White Camellia tearoom; listen in to the less subversive conversations that nevertheless led to equally effective agitation. It was in tearooms such as this one where many women first experienced a level of independence, found their voice and began campaigning for the right to vote. This is an extremely well researched book about what it meant to be a woman at the turn of the century, fighting (literally sometimes) for the vote. A woman didn’t need to be aggressive or actively militant to be arrested or attacked by the police and the prison system. Simply photographing the abusive methods of the police could land you in jail and lead to force-feeding, a particularly vile form of torture that left many women’s health utterly ruined.

The story begins gently – the author creates a perfect sense of the time, with an undertow of excitement that gradually emerges. Set in London and in the author’s beloved Cornwall, we first meet Beatrice, in the capital, picking up the pieces of her family’s shattered fortune, while discovering her courage as a woman in a world where men’s voices rule. In Cornwall, Sybil moves into Tressillion, a house with a dark past. These two women – with more in common that they know – are gradually drawn together by an old secret.

j-gs-book

It’s an intimate book on a grand scale, full of real people you care for. It has all the elements of great historical mystery: adventure, suspense, secrets and drama. And the right amount of romance to lighten the mood. Above all, it’s a book about the bravery of women, our foresisters whose courageous struggle, sadly, some of us still take for granted. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

My novels

Wild Spinning Girls
Wild Spinning Girls
Snow Sisters
Snow Sisters
Ghostbird
Ghostbird
Only May
Only May
Follow Making it up as I go along on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 166 other subscribers

© Carol Lovekin and Making It Up As I Go Along, 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Carol Lovekin and Making It Up As I Go Along with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Archives

Blogroll

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Facebook

Facebook

Tags

#NotTheBooker Authors Ballet Beach Birds Blodeuwedd Bloggers Blog Tour Book 3 Book 4 Book Fair Book Review Books Countdown Crow Drafts Dylan Thomas Editing Editor Edna O'Brien Extract Family Feminism First Lines Friends Genre Ghostbird Ghosts Ghost Story Glittering Prizes Guest Post Honno Interview Island Life IWD Janet Janey Judith Barrow Letter to America Llandeilo Lockdown Magic Mist Muse Mythology New story Not Writing Only May Photographs Process Public speaking Publishing Quotations Readers Reading Review Reviews RiverBook SisterBook Sky Snow Sisters Social Media Storyteller Structural Edits Titles Traditional Publishing Virginia Woolf Wild Spinning Girls Word Birds Workshops Writers Writing Writing Advice Writing Group Writing rituals

Archives

  • August 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
“The vote means nothing to women. We should be armed" ~ Edna O'Brien

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Making it up as I go along
    • Join 166 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Making it up as I go along
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...