About the Book:

The cost of freedom is sacrifice.
 
London, 1908. It’s the dawn of a new century and change is in the air.
 
When 17-year-old Beatrice Taylor stumbles across the offices of the infamous Pankhursts and the Women’s Social and Political Union she begins to realise her future may not be the one she wants.
 
Her friend Catherine Dawson is too pragmatic to get caught up in the women’s suffrage movement. Despite Oxford refusing to award women degrees she is determined to keep apace with her twin brother and pursue a career in science.
 
Meanwhile, Ida Bennett, recently promoted to head wardress of DX wing at Holloway Prison, has her work cut out for her. The suffragette inmates are refusing to be treated like criminals—and Ida’s not having any of it.
 
This is the story of three women whose lives become entwined—with the burgeoning women’s movement and with each other. Like Fire-Hearted Suns shows how much things have changed for women—and how much they stay the same.

Published by Ultimo Press

Released March 2024

My Thoughts:

This was a fabulous read. Beginning in 1908, when the women’s suffrage movement was just starting to increase in terms of political agitation, the span of this novel took me by surprise, not just in the years it covered, but the complexity of the character connections, and the embedment of the suffrage movement with the Great War.

There were many things I thought I knew about the women’s suffrage movement, but after reading this, I think that much of what I knew previously was a blend of the movements across Australia, the US, and the UK, rather than specific details of each. There were names in this I recognised, but then other aspects and actions of the movement that I did not. One thing I had no idea about was the large numbers of women who were imprisoned for their political agitations, many of them in and out, for months at a time, and as the political agitation began to spill over into property crimes as a form of protest, the sentences got longer. The suffragettes would all hunger strike, which led to mass forced feeding, which in turn resulted in long term physical and mental health issues for the women.

An interesting perspective within this novel was offered via having a character who was one of the female prison wardens in the female prison. I really enjoyed this perspective, the resentment that the wardens had towards the women who were creating so much more work for them with the forced feedings and extra caretaking, balanced with their growing resentment at being underpaid and overworked in comparison to their male counterparts, which in turn, created a growing understanding and begrudging admiration for the suffragettes, their movement, and what they were endeavouring to achieve for all women. This perspective offered some complex and deeply thought-out threads to pull at and consider.

The way the movement ceded way for the Great War was interesting. With all men who were able off to war and dying in the dozens, women of course had to enter the workforce to fill the gaps. Not only were they paid less and expected to keep a family on this reduced wage, but they also had no say in society, that is, they themselves couldn’t vote, but with the male of their household dead, their family was without a voice, without a vote. These were significant aspects that helped turn the tide in the suffragette’s favour, post war.

That the vote was in the end given, but initially just to property owning women over 30, seemed a victory that was celebrated by the suffragettes, but scoffed at by the many other women who were working class, not property owners, or too young. The prison wardens, for example, could see that this was of no benefit to them, as none of them owned property or would ever hope to. It was interesting to witness the way women felt about the vote once it was given to only a few, as opposed to how they’d felt about it when it was still a notion with no hope of being granted. Those who scoffed at it initially and were against the suffragettes had changed their view after the war and all that had changed within their lives. Once they didn’t care, but then, when they were excluded, they cared very much indeed.

It was such a complex novel but so beautifully written and easy to follow, for all the history and intertwined themes. I haven’t even touched on the aspects that explored women in science, the restrictions on their degrees and their general exclusion from the workplace. The war improved their prospects too, but only in the area of scientific development of chemical warfare to counter what the Germans were using against the British troops. I really valued this aspect of the story, that deep exploration of morals within the context of groundbreaking work that you might have otherwise objected to if your options were wider or your financial means less affecting. This aspect of the story was entwined with conscientious objection and the movement for peace. Catherine, who was at the start of the war one person, and at the end a very different one, was probably my most favourite character in terms of growth and depth. Her twin brother’s story was deeply sad and juxtaposed against hers, it was considered and thought provoking.

Like Fire-Hearted Suns is one of those magnificent novels that sweep you up into another era with its intelligence, emotion, meticulous research, authentically rendered characters, and brilliantly crafted storyline. I loved it.

Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.