Love Leads The Way

No 23 Burlington Square by Jenni Keer is a marvellous historical novel that consumed me.

The action is set in 1927 in a large house in London.

All the characters were well drawn and fully rounded. I did not like one of the leading ladies at first. She seemed entitled and a party girl but once the reader realizes what motivates her, we can see that beneath her exterior beats a heart of gold.

We see what war did for women. It enabled them to have more freedoms as they stepped into the jobs vacated by men. The women were reluctant to go back to being seen as property of the men or in loveless marriages. There is much courage when women stand up for who they really are.

During the war the men fought for freedom. At home, the women now fight for their freedoms. The workers did not want to be shackled.

There was still a class system. “The accident of your birth determined your status in the world.” As the 1920’s progressed, the class system was beginning to be eroded.