What happens after you've changed the world? It turns out, that winning a battle doesn't mean you can stop fighting; ten years after women won the vote (and, indeed, a hundred years after that) there's still plenty of injustice to go around. And, for a militant feminist, it can get frustrating; it can get exhausting; but not to Mattie - there will always be work to do, and you can't stop at the first small victory. You have to keep going, even for those who can't. This is a masterful, ever-topical, nuanced story of rage, acceptance, class, politics, age, and the responsibility of change. You won't be able to shake it off!

Reading this felt cosy and warm. It reminded me so much of listening to Just William or the adventures of Jane Turpin. It's funny and fresh and all about finding a new purpose in life. Mattie is the perfect main character, I really wish I could have been a part of her Amazons group exploring the common in London!

It's apposite, to use a Mattie word, that this book has been published one hundred years after some women got the vote. Mattie is a woman of some means, living in Hampstead in 1928. Her glory days were as a militant suffragette and she's still giving talks on that subject, aided by her friend and lodger, Florrie Lee ('The Flea'). Unfortunately, the Great War got in the way and Mattie was left directionless and feeling a little let down by the cause. However, fate intervenes, and Ida enters Mattie's household as her housekeeper and newest project. Mattie is soon setting up a healthy outdoorsy club for girls of all backgrounds and it is pretty successful - until compared with The Empire League, a rival group set up by the Cellinis. Mrs Cellini was an erstwhile suffragette (although, The Flea doesn't remember her doing very much except wafting about looking glamorous) and this new group is obviously modelled on the far-right groups beginning to crop up around Europe. To further complicate Mattie's intentions, a girl named Inez, begins to attend Mattie's group and she seems to have a strong link to Mattie's past... To some extent, this is a lighthearted look at the activities of women of a certain class after the war. Dig a little deeper, though, and you'll find a book teeming with things to say about injustice, about the role of women, and the pull of family, whether they're related by blood or by a common cause.

Hadn’t read anything by Lissa Evans before but this book follows the character of Mattie Simpkins who was briefly introduced to us in her previous novel Crooked Heart. Mattie was once a suffragette, jailed numerous times and this book catches up with her some years later still believing and fighting for the cause. One day she has the idea after meeting up with an old friend of setting up a girls club to educate and inspire young girls in readiness of them being able soon to vote. The story concentrates on this small group and its rival club (set up by the old friend she had met) who both meet on the Heath. The book follows Mattie, her companion ‘The Flea’ and Ida, my favourite character, a girl Mattie meets ‘by accident!’ and who later joins the club. It’s a book that enables you to get straight into the story and has a lovely flowing writing style that passes seamlessly in and out of the current Mattie and her past experiences with the suffragette movement. A great snapshot of a time and place and with wonderful humour and array of likeable characters. I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A touching story about Matilda Simpkins who was a suffragette and her friend Miss Lee otherwise known as Flea. It is full of laugh out loud moments and would appeal to anyone who loves reading about the 1920s. Full of great characters including children it paints an unforgettable story of real life in that era.