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katetaylor 's review for:
Poor Girls
by Clare Whitfield
I was excited to see Clare Whitfield release a new book, after enjoying her previous novel, People Of Abandoned Character. Poor Girls did not disappoint: it's a whipsmart novel that balances a fast paced Peaky-Blinders-For-Women crime caper with nuanced social commentary about the changing role of women in inter war society. I absolutely inhaled it and wish I had more stars to give.
Eleanor Mackeridge is a former munitions worker, current waitress, struggling at being put back into a box after doing meaningful work during WW1. After a (not so?) romantic tryst with a male gangster she finds herself recruited to an all female gang of shoplifters, the Forties or Forty Elephants. While her romance with the gangster is shortlived, Nell finds real sisterhood with her cell of shoplifters, and their female friendship is the central "love story" of the novel.
Nell is a dynamic and likeable character: even when she's scared her instinct is to face things head on. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who likes morally grey female characters. However, Clare Whitfield doesn't shy away from the nastier realities of the time: on two occasions Nell is pushed into actions that ruin lives, one of which is truly heinous. While she carries a great deal of guilt about it, this may still be off putting for someone who wants a morally uncomplicated Robin Hood type protagonist who only steals from people who "deserve it." But omitting the harsher realities would do a disservice to the real history the story is based on. From the afterword, regarding the real women of the Forty Elephants: " Their stories are important, authentic, complex and deserve to be heard. All people, regardless of their origin or status, must be considered with empathy and compassion, as well as critique in our collective history."
Eleanor Mackeridge is a former munitions worker, current waitress, struggling at being put back into a box after doing meaningful work during WW1. After a (not so?) romantic tryst with a male gangster she finds herself recruited to an all female gang of shoplifters, the Forties or Forty Elephants. While her romance with the gangster is shortlived, Nell finds real sisterhood with her cell of shoplifters, and their female friendship is the central "love story" of the novel.
Nell is a dynamic and likeable character: even when she's scared her instinct is to face things head on. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who likes morally grey female characters. However, Clare Whitfield doesn't shy away from the nastier realities of the time: on two occasions Nell is pushed into actions that ruin lives, one of which is truly heinous. While she carries a great deal of guilt about it, this may still be off putting for someone who wants a morally uncomplicated Robin Hood type protagonist who only steals from people who "deserve it." But omitting the harsher realities would do a disservice to the real history the story is based on. From the afterword, regarding the real women of the Forty Elephants: " Their stories are important, authentic, complex and deserve to be heard. All people, regardless of their origin or status, must be considered with empathy and compassion, as well as critique in our collective history."