This month's meeting takes place in Crawley to discuss Miss Carter's War by Sheila Hancock.
I really enjoyed the dance through the decades, the Forrest Gump-like way that Marguerite seems to be at every major event of the twentieth century, and the teacher's 'reward' in the closing stages of the novel.
The flashbacks from the war years are also satisfyingly resolved and reflected in interesting ways in the contemporary narrative. I found the early teaching descriptions a little naive and idealistic, but then I suppose that was intended to reflect the protagonist at that point in her life.
The whole novel was ambitious in its scope since as well as containing a 'life' in almost its entirety, the narrative also seemed to incorporate every major issue since the war - including AIDS, dementia, social injustice, 9-11, the education system, drugs, teenage pregnancy - as well as being a meditation on the ageing process and the meaning of life.
It was not what I expected at all; and it has made me want to rethink tomorrow's wardrobe as we return from the Easter holidays!
