Constance Haverhill has spent World War I helping run an estate. But it’s 1919 and she is being asked to leave her cottage and job. She’s searching for a position as a bookkeeper or, less appealing to her, a governess. In the meantime, she’s sent to a seaside resort as a lady’s companion to a family friend recuperating at Hazelbourne-on-Sea. Constance helps out Poppy, a local baronet’s daughter.
Poppy is very modern: she runs a local taxi and delivery service employing women, wears trousers and has a ladies’ motorcycle club and plans to add flying lessons. Constance also meets Poppy’s brother Harris, a pilot wounded in battle and trying to rebuild his life and future.
Are the freedoms the women gained from 1914 to the present start to erode as peace comes to the land?
Ms. Simonson has a wonderful talent for bringing the early twentieth century to life. The reader is drawn into the social structure and morals of the time period. In this novel, she has created a community with characters who grow in strength, confidence, ability and solidarity as they navigate the changing society that emerges out of the end of World War I.
5 stars
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