Here’s another book I picked up by chance at Waterstones, Kirkcaldy. I ought to buy shares in the company!
Why did I choose this book?
I love historical fiction and the period caught my eye too; the twenties, after the end of WW1, when Oxford University first admitted female students.
My attention was captured!
A bit about the book
Eight very different new students arrive at Oxford University to share Corridor Eight, and were soon nicknamed The Eights, because they were so often seen together. From very different backgrounds, these women were thrown together into unlikely, precious friendships, which surprised them all. You can imagine the tension with the male students. Yes, there was curiosity, but also animosity from some of the staff too. (Also to mention here is that Joanna Miller did not shy away from the affects of the war, with both mental and physical injuries) This book cannot be written clinging on to today’s world of enlightenment either, but is to be read, deeply emerged in the times in which it is set.
Two reviews on the back cover were the final hook:
The Times “An inspiring reminder of the trail blazed by clever women of the past,”
but it was Clare Chambers comment which landed the novel on my bedside table,
“I became completely involved in the lives of these pioneering heroines whose friendship is the beating heart of the book.”
I couldn’t have put it better myself.
On putting the book down for the final time, almost reverently, I realised that there was a parallel coincidence with my own life. Last month eight of us met up in Norwich, to celebrate becoming friends 50 years ago this year, when we enrolled on a BEd course to become teachers. We were the first student teachers to embark on a degree course, rather than a Teaching Certificate, pioneers too in a sense. Also, our friendships, forged so many years ago, are a testament to the lasting affection we hold for each other today. We still converse fairly regularly through WhatsApp, and also meet up yearly, whenever we are able.
It was certainly a weekend down memory lane for us all.
Diana Jackson 