Old Baggage

Product Information

I liked her – strong, feisty and well-meaning, but also flawed as we see with the cheating on the treasure hunt. And she would indeed be irritating to live with.

Old Baggage gives an inspiring model of womanhood. Moving, warm and wry. It is wonderful!" - Marian Keyes Set in 1928, it tells the story of Matilda Simpkin, who was an activist during the Women’s Suffrage Campaign. Jailed five times, Mattie marched, sang, gave speeches and smashed windows, and nothing since then has had the same depth or excitement. After a chance meeting with 15-year-old Ida, she sets out on a new venture, starting a girls’ club to help young women gain and maintain independence. I loved Old Baggage. Such original characters, and so timely. And it made me weep at the end." (JoJo Moyes)The cause was not won, only placated a bit. The fight was not over. Women were not equal. (They still aren’t) But Mattie’s methods don’t do her any favors, and she alienates as many people as she convinces. Probably alienates more people than she convinces. Perfectly timed for the centenary of the women’s vote in 2018, Old Baggage takes a unique approach to the lives of the women who fought so hard to win us the vote. And we have 50 copies to give away as part of our July book club. V for Victory is a sequel to Crooked Heart (taken with her last novel, Old Baggage, which told the story of former suffragette Mattie, the three books form a loose trilogy). It’s 1944 and the Blitz is in full swing. Vera “Vee” Sedge is running a boarding house, while trying to ensure that her smart and streetwise charge Noel, now nearly 15, receives the education a boy of his “quality” deserves.

As always, the delight of reading Evans comes from the way in which the mundane and the magical collide: a Christmas dinner is saved from disaster by a game of sardines; a bombed-out landscape becomes a country of half-hidden treasures. The ending, what did you make of that, and what do you think Mattie will do now. I wasn't sure, as it all seemed a bit far fetched, and I wasn't at all sure how you could make it a legal adoption. I must read the next book and find out. I was very glad that Ida, even if she didn't become a doctor, had the potential for a good career and a way to care for her aunt. There are some writers whose books you can’t wait to get your hands hands on. Lissa Evans is one of those. Old Baggage is warm, tender, hilarious and so clever" - Paula HawkinsOld Baggage is funny and a bittersweet portrait of a woman who has never, never given up the fight. The book group choice this month is Old Baggage by Lissa Evans. It's the story of a suffragette in middle age, and it was one of my favourite reads of last year. Funny and moving it is a quite short and easy read. You can find out more here. The real love story, however, is that between Vee and Noel. Evans has us rooting for this makeshift mother and son throughout her story’s many twists and turns towards a satisfactory ending in which her characters can be seen to move forward with their lives post war. V for Victory is a book to be treasured and returned to again and again. Old Baggage is a funny and bittersweet portrait of a woman who has never given up the fight and the young women who are just discovering it.

And Mattie’s need to prove herself to someone who has never had any intention but to bring her down and keep her there has no end of bad consequences. For Mattie, for her best friend Florrie, and especially for the girls and young women they have taken under their wings. Mattie Simpkin, former suffragette, is referred to by the disparaging epithet of the book’s title only once, by an insignificant young man (all the males in this novel are peripheral). It’s 1928 and at last the suffrage is to be extended to women over 21. It doesn’t come soon enough for Emmeline Pankhurst, who dies mere weeks before the act is passed, but Mattie and her fellow radicals, now stout and bedraggled, can finally celebrate victory. Except that Mattie is not the sort of person who can relax. A chance discovery leads to a daring plan of action, which risks being scuppered by the other kind of old baggage – the emotional sort. Discussing their exciting new project, Pepperdine and Scanlan told Deadline: ‘Lissa’s grasp of character and her immaculate feel for women’s history made this property irresistible to us as actors and now producers.’At first, this seemed to be a simple story about someone whose glory days were long behind them – and that same person’s inability to cope with that fact. But it’s not nearly that simple. It seemed pretty convincing to me. I liked the fact Evans didn't try to hard to include historical details, but it felt right for the time and place. I know Hampstead and the health, and I don't think it's probably changed that much over the years.