By Susan Lanigan
"Anti-war and anti-patriarchy without ever saying so - a bravura performance of effortless elegance" - Irish Echo in Australia
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2015
In 1913, Irish emigrée Eva Downey receives a bequest from an elderly suffragette to attend a finishing school. There she finds friendship and, eventually, love. But when war looms and he refuses to enlist, Eva is under family and social pressure to give the man she loves a white feather of cowardice. The decision she eventually makes will have lasting consequences for her and everyone around her.
Journey with Eva as she battles through a hostile social order and endeavours to resist it at every turn.
When Eva Downey receives a more than generous inheritance from Lady Elizabeth Jenkins, whom she had once written an article for, her life changes forever. However, her family are not happy about the inheritance, as her step-sister can’t go to finishing school because of money troubles, but the inheritance would allow Eva to go.
Leaving her family behind and making her own way in life, Eva finds herself finally finding friendship, finding love. Even still, her situation isn’t secure. She is never truly free from her family’s manipulation and her situation becomes more desperate when she meets Mr Shandlin, her teacher. As a person in a position of authority Mr Shandlin, should have left Eva alone, but he finds himself drawn to her. However, it is difficult to figure out whether or not he truly does love Eva, for he appears to care for her, but his inability to control his emotions, choosing to blame things on her, made me very conflicted on whether or not to like him. Eva is such a lovely person, she is so easy to fall in love with while you read, and it is heartbreaking how much she puts up with because she doesn’t know any better. All you want to do is to protect her, but rather, you have to sit back and let her find her own way, and cross your fingers that it will all be okay.
I did really like Sybil. She becomes Eva’s friend at finishing school, and almost becomes like a sister to Eva. She is very kind, and helps to lead Eva through social situations she doesn’t understand. When Eva needs someone, Sybil is always here, and together they seem able to face anything. Like Eva, Sybil finds herself in an abusive relationship. The theme of trying to move past abusive people crops up time and again in this book, and the characters doing so appear so strong to be able to pick themselves up and keep trying. It is a difficult topic, but this book handles it well. It does break your heart to read about though, especially since Eva and Sybil are such lovely people, you don’t want anything bad to ever happen to them.
This book is set during the first world war, and after finishing school, Eva becomes a nurse, looking after the soldiers injured in battle. For many, their outcomes seem bleak, especially since those who do start to recover are sent back to duty, even before they are able. If they were lucky enough to survive the first injuries, their luck surely couldn’t hold out a second time. This is another matter where your heart breaks while reading for those involved, lying in the beds wondering if they are going to die or be sent back again. The horrors those soldiers have faced is atrocious, and the men in charge of where they will be sent next truly don’t understand just how horrific the things these men have seen really are, have never felt that fear, for they are not alongside them, fighting in the trenches.
The white feather is an interesting addition to this story – of course it is an important one, being the book’s title. To be handed a white feather is to be labelled a coward, and it is certainly used for more than that. It is used for blackmail, emotional manipulation, for no one wants to be called a coward, and handing someone a feather is an incredibly simple thing to do. It doesn’t take much for the title to be bestowed upon you. This certainly helps to drive the story forwards, as in a time of war, to be a coward is to be shunned, and many would do anything to make sure they are never handed a white feather.
Although a very emotional story, making a box of tissues a necessity while reading, this is an incredibly captivating read. You truly feel like you are in the story with the characters, and it is very easy to fall in love with them. I haven’t read many World War One books, but this book certainly makes me want to read more.
Thanks so much for hosting Susan Lanigan today, and for your lovely review of White Feathers.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club