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thereclamationproject 's review for:
A Lesson in Secrets
by Jacqueline Winspear
http://knowthyself-mb.blogspot.com/2011/03/lesson-in-secrets-maisie-dobbs-book-8.html
Few writers can bring the reader to a specific time and place like Jacqueline Winspear does in her Maisie Dobbs series. In the 8th book in the series, Maisie is beginning to recover from the loss of her mentor and great friend, Maurice Blanche. He left Maisie most of his fortune, including his house outside of London, the Dower House, where Maisie grew up. Maisie is coming to terms with not only Maurice's death, but her new found wealth.
In A Lesson in Secrets, Maisie is recruited by Scotland Yard and the British Secret Service to go under cover at a small college in Cambridge. The College of St. Francis was established and run by Greville Liddicote, a former author of children's books and well known pacifist. One of Liddicote's books was banished in England during and after the war because it supposedly caused a mass desertion due to its pacifistic nature. And with the rise of the Nazi party in Germany causing much stir on the continent, the secret service and the Yard want to find out if there are any rumblings going on at the small college.
Masquerading as philosophy professor Maisie ingratiates herself into campus life and finds that things are certainly not as they appear.
Winspear is able to continue to let Maisie grow as a woman, a sleuth and a character that the readers will be able to follow as she ages and matures. As Maisie uncovers underlying concerns at the school and voices her worries to the secret service and the Yard, she cautions against nationalism and Nazism, echoing the voice of reason that was largely unheard until it was much too late.
In A Lesson in Secrets, Maisie's relationship with James Compton grows. Though I wish Compton was in the story more, we were at least able to see Maisie's longing for Compton the longer he was away from her. Now Maisie must learn to have a serious relationship and a profession that at times can be dangerous. I wonder how Winspear will draw Crompton as time goes on? Will he always be the supportive boyfriend? Will his concern for Maisie grow as their relationship does? Will he make requests that she stop investigating?
As WWII looms in the all to near future, I'm looking forward to what Winspear will do with our intrepid investigator. I would actually like to see her return to France again during the war and go under cover under the Vichy government. But I guess I'll have to wait (im)patiently for the next Maisie Dobbs novel. It can't come fast enough.
*eBook (ARC) provided courtesy of Harper Collins and NetGalley
Few writers can bring the reader to a specific time and place like Jacqueline Winspear does in her Maisie Dobbs series. In the 8th book in the series, Maisie is beginning to recover from the loss of her mentor and great friend, Maurice Blanche. He left Maisie most of his fortune, including his house outside of London, the Dower House, where Maisie grew up. Maisie is coming to terms with not only Maurice's death, but her new found wealth.
In A Lesson in Secrets, Maisie is recruited by Scotland Yard and the British Secret Service to go under cover at a small college in Cambridge. The College of St. Francis was established and run by Greville Liddicote, a former author of children's books and well known pacifist. One of Liddicote's books was banished in England during and after the war because it supposedly caused a mass desertion due to its pacifistic nature. And with the rise of the Nazi party in Germany causing much stir on the continent, the secret service and the Yard want to find out if there are any rumblings going on at the small college.
Masquerading as philosophy professor Maisie ingratiates herself into campus life and finds that things are certainly not as they appear.
Winspear is able to continue to let Maisie grow as a woman, a sleuth and a character that the readers will be able to follow as she ages and matures. As Maisie uncovers underlying concerns at the school and voices her worries to the secret service and the Yard, she cautions against nationalism and Nazism, echoing the voice of reason that was largely unheard until it was much too late.
In A Lesson in Secrets, Maisie's relationship with James Compton grows. Though I wish Compton was in the story more, we were at least able to see Maisie's longing for Compton the longer he was away from her. Now Maisie must learn to have a serious relationship and a profession that at times can be dangerous. I wonder how Winspear will draw Crompton as time goes on? Will he always be the supportive boyfriend? Will his concern for Maisie grow as their relationship does? Will he make requests that she stop investigating?
As WWII looms in the all to near future, I'm looking forward to what Winspear will do with our intrepid investigator. I would actually like to see her return to France again during the war and go under cover under the Vichy government. But I guess I'll have to wait (im)patiently for the next Maisie Dobbs novel. It can't come fast enough.
*eBook (ARC) provided courtesy of Harper Collins and NetGalley