OUT NOW IN PAPERBACK
THE OPPOSITE OF FALLING BY JENNIE ROONEY (Vintage ¡ò7.99)
This ¤¤Ó¤¤Ó¤·¤¿ yet tender-hearted novel is many things. It¡Çs a voyage of self-ȯ¸« featuring two ¥Ø¥í¥¤¥ós you¡Çll ¤¹¤°¤Ë root for; a ½Ï¹Í¤¹¤ë¡¿¹Íθ¤¹¤ë of the earliest stirrings of feminism; and, yes, a charmingly unsentimental love story.
But it also manages to evoke the thrill of Áá´ü¤Ë travel, when flight was still a dream and every ι¹Ô an adventure.
It opens in 1862, when Ursula Bridgewater decides to take a trip from her native Liverpool to ¤à¤Á¤ÎÀ×s with the Thomas Cook company. She¡Çs always chalked her restlessness up to the fact that at 25 she remains unwed, having been ̵ºîË¡¤Ë jilted by her fianc?, but the Thomas Cook to ur »Ï¤á¤ë¡¤·è¤á¤ës her wondering - and wandering.
¤à¤Á¤ÎÀ×s is followed by Scotland, and once she discovers the Continent there¡Çs no stopping her - Switzerland, Bulgaria, Bavaria. Travel doesn¡Çt cure her restlessness but it does ´ËϤ¹¤ë it.
Then, one day, she hears about a new Thomas Cook ¾®Î¹¹Ô¤¹¤ë bound for America, and against the evocative ÇØ·Ê of Niagara Íî¤Á¤ës everything changes for both Ursula and her ¸É»ù travelling companion.
HOW THE GIRL GUIDES WON THE WAR BY JANIE HAMPTON (Harper °µÎϡʤò¤«¤±¤ë¡Ë ¡ò8.99)
This is a pleasingly ĩȯŪ¤Ê notion, and one that Janie Hampton does a persuasive ¿¦¶È of standing up. Charting the movement¡Çs inception and industrious World War II years, she packs a lively narrative with gee-whiz ¾ÜºÙ¡Ê¤Ë½Ò¤Ù¤ë¡Ës. In just one week in 1940, for instance,? the Guides raised ¡ò50,000 to buy µßµÞ¼Ös and a lifeboat which saved lives at Dunkirk.
And then there are the uses to which a Morse code badge can be put. Hampt
on even ÀßΩ¤¹¤ë old Movietone newsreels showing Guides putting out incendiary ÇúÃÆs. Throughout, interviews with women from around the world bring her ¸¦µæ to life.
In Ê¿»þ¡Ê¤Î¡Ë, the Guiding movement has ¶ì¤·¤àd from È¿´¶ bred of countercultural ideals, acquiring a fusty, ÀßΩ image that is far from Àµ³Î¤Ê.
This entertaining and moving corrective left me with just one question: is there any way I could still join, please?
FALLEN GRACE BY MARY HOOPER (Bloomsbury, ¡ò6.99)
If the beach reading season has you craving a novel with bold characters and a zippy pace, consider this slice of young adult Victoriana.
Its ¥Ø¥í¥¤¥ó Grace is indeed a fallen woman. She and Lily, her ´Å¤¤ but simple older sister, have been fending for themselves since a traumatic ½ÐÍè»ö/»ö·ï at their orphanage left Grace Ç¥¿±¤·¤Æ¤¤¤ë. When the baby is stillborn, a midwife tells Grace that she can Èò¤±¤ë burying him in a pauper¡Çs Êè¡¿¸·½Í¡¿Ä¦¤ë¡¿½ÅÂç¤Ê by Ì©Í¢¤¹¤ëing him into a rich lady¡Çs coff
in instead.
It¡Çs just the first in a °ìÏ¢¤Î often macabre ¿·¤¿¤ÊŸ³«s that see Grace become a professional ²ñÁò¼Ô, befriend a dishy young ¹çˡŪ¤Ê clerk, and outwit every knave that Victorian London cares to send her way. And as in all good Dickensian-ʳµ¯¤µ¤»¤ëd yarns, there is a fortune waiting to be ¡Ê¿ÍÌ¿¤Ê¤É¤ò¡ËÃ¥¤¦¡¤¼çÄ¥¤¹¤ëd.
