For the April / May 2025 edition I chose the novel The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson (May 2024)
At some point last year, upon returning a book to the library via the Libby app, I was offered the option to "skip the line" and borrow a sought-after novel with a long, intriguing title. I accepted the offer and soon I found myself drawn to the story and even more so to its historical background: the period post-WWI and Spansh flu pandemic, and the challenges the time posed to women, war veterans and the UK at large.
It is the summer of 1919 and Constance Haverhill is without prospects. Now that all the men have returned from the front, she has been asked to give up her cottage and her job at the estate she helped run during the war. While she looks for a position as a bookkeeper or—horror—a governess, she’s sent as a lady’s companion to an old family friend who is convalescing at a seaside hotel...
But things are more complicated than they seem in this sunny pocket of English high society. As the country prepares to celebrate its hard-won peace, Constance and the women of the club are forced to confront the fact that the freedoms they gained during the war are being revoked.
I enjoyed Simonson's style so much that after finishing this novel, I borrowed her earlier ones: The Summer Before the War (where again the war in question is WWI) and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.
While the novel i selected is not food-oriented, it includes a number of references to foods. I hope it will provide inspiration and, above all, an interesting read.
Simona, briciole
Deadline for contributing your post: Saturday, May 31, 2025.
Leave a comment below with a link to your post or email me at simosite AT mac DOT com
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