A book review of Old Baggage, by Lissa Evans.
This is a witty and delightful book.
Beginning in 1928 the tale follows five years of the lives and losses of two middle-aged women, Mattie and The Flea, who live in ‘The Mousehole’ on Hampstead Heath. They are both former suffragettes.
Mattie, who carries a club of polished ash in her handbag, doesn’t even know how to slow down, let alone stop. She’s searching for a purpose. One day, out of the blue, she meets an old comrade ‘Jacko’ who, with her husband, has recently returned from Australia. Jacko has the idea of starting a ‘league’, a club that will stir the interest and nationalism of the youth. Bear in mind that this is 1928; Mussolini had risen to dictatorial power in 1925. Mattie and The Flea immediately recognise it for what it is.
And Mattie’s off.
She sets up the Amazons, a youth club for girls aged between 12 and 18, with the aim of encouraging open minded discussion, learning, wholesome exercise and, above all, a spirit of independence. Mattie is not a woman to do things by halves.
Lissa’s steady building of Mattie and The Flea’s characters, as well as Ida, a young woman from a poor background who has ambition, intelligence and aspirations, is superb. As is her portrayal of life in late 1920’s London. She also wrote Their Finest Hour and a Half, which was released as a film called Their Finest (2016) with Bill Nighy and Gemma Arterton, Vita in Vita and Virginia.
Old Baggage was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic literature. And it is amusing. Even funny in places. But I wouldn’t describe it as a laugh-a-minute. And I don’t necessarily mean that as a criticism. The tale has a serious story to tell, especially from the point of view of women’s suffrage and the growing nationalism.
It was the general election on the 30th May 1929, known as the Flapper election, that all woman finally got the vote. Some woman could vote from 1918 — if they were over 30 and they, or their husband, met a property requirement. It has been argued that was it not for the first war, women may have got the vote sooner; Mattie certainly thinks so. There are also, in the book, some dramatic reminiscences of the treatment that suffragettes received at the hands of the police. From that point of view it is an interesting, as well as an entertaining read.
I would recommend it as a fun and easy tale about an interesting period in UK history. And a period that, as you read the book, knowing what was coming in a decade or so, of an innocence and a calm before a terrible storm.
However, and it’s a shame, but the book goes into self destruct in the last ten pages. The story fast forwards from 1929 to 1933. The ending, for me, is one of the poorest conclusions to a book that I can remember. It just makes no sense. It’s ten pages of add-on drama that bear little resemblance to the characterisation, or the story, that precedes it. It is a ‘where did that come from’ ten pages. And totally unnecessary. The book could have ended in 1929 and it would have been a satisfactory and poignant finale.
Despite that, the book’s still worth a look. Just pause when you see 1933, enjoy the moment, and then finish.
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