Stevie‘s review of Old Baggage (Mattie Simpkin, Book 0) by Lissa Evans
Historical Women’s Fiction published by Transworld Digital 14 Jun 18
What’s a woman to do when the cause to which she’s given the best years of her life is now a historical curiosity to most people, and merely an incident from which to move on from to those she fought alongside? Mattie Smith is a former suffragette, now reduced to giving talks on what it was like to be a suffragette or rattling around her house on Hampstead Heath, while beyond the garden wall, others from the campaign have families on which to devote their energies. Even her one remaining companion from the old days, the woman who she shares her house with, has a job besides helping Mattie at her evening lectures. Florrie Lee, known almost universally as The Flea, is a health visitor, and while her reduced circumstances mean she is forced to live with the often abrasive Mattie, with whom she is hopelessly, unrequitedly, in love, she does at least have a definite purpose for getting out of the house every day.
Two chance encounters lead Mattie toward a new project. First she meets a young working-class woman – not under the most auspicious of circumstances – and realises that there’s a whole generation of women about to finally get the vote, but in no position to know what to do with it. Shortly afterwards, Mattie runs into a former comrade, now married, who is setting up a youth group with decidedly Fascist leanings. Mattie resolves to form a group of her own – purely for girls – that will provide opportunities for discussion, education, and healthy outdoor activities. And no extreme politics of any sort.
The two groups become sworn rivals, not helped by the animosity between their leaders; however, Mattie soon develops another obsession, becoming convinced that one of the girls in her group is the child of her brother, long since deceased as a consequence of his war wounds. Mattie’s favouritism toward a girl with no particular skills or talents causes ructions amongst all those who know her, and soon it seems she will lose more than she can ever gain.
Mattie isn’t one to suffer defeat easily, though, and her struggles to regain some of her standing leads to yet more adventures and eventually a whole new purpose to her life.
I loved this book very much. Mattie was a character I couldn’t help but cheer on, even when she was behaving atrociously. She has a strong disregard for the law – as a result of her various periods of imprisonment in the struggle for female suffrage – but also a healthy sense of right and wrong. I was also cheered by mentions of Conway Hall: a building whose history I only recently discovered, but which has strong links to a whole bunch of historical reform movements.
Although this isn’t technically part of a series, one of the author’s earlier books takes up the story of Mattie and one of her companions some years after the events of this book. I plan to track down a copy of that very soon.
Grade: A
Summary:
It is 1928. Matilda Simpkin, rooting through a cupboard, comes across a small wooden club – an old possession of hers, unseen for more than a decade.
Mattie is a woman with a thrilling past and a chafingly uneventful present. During the Women’s Suffrage Campaign she was a militant. Jailed five times, she marched, sang, gave speeches, smashed windows and heckled Winston Churchill, and nothing – nothing – since then has had the same depth, the same excitement.
Now in middle age, she is still looking for a fresh mould into which to pour her energies. Giving the wooden club a thoughtful twirl, she is struck by an idea – but what starts as a brilliantly idealistic plan is derailed by a connection with Mattie’s militant past, one which begins to threaten every principle that she stands for.
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
