![]() ![]() I loved the way the author showed, that despite their differences in class and means, Ruby and Harriet are still second class citizens due to their gender. From Ruby’s perspective, money is freedom and Harriet certainly has plenty of that. Most have done time in Holloway and without the Forties, they and their families would be cold and hungry. The ones that are married are struggling to feed their kids and to avoid their husband’s fists. Many have been thieving since they were children, looked after by the Forties in return for their tiny hands making their way into pockets. The women of the Forties are in a hierarchy, with Annie ? At the top. We see what Harriet can’t, because we’ve met the rest of the Forties and Ruby’s other mentor Solly, who runs a jewellery business. She has no idea what her article will truly mean for Ruby. She sees Ruby’s freedom, her nerve and confidence, and contrasts it with her own restrictions. So she decides to write a piece on Ruby, the Jewel of the Borough, and gets one of the artists to draw a sketch from her description. She’s furious when the story about the jewellery heist she witnessed is written by one of the male reporters at the paper. She’s amazed by how much it suits her and hopes to see Ruby with her new fashionable look, even if it does cause a stir at home, particularly with her traditional mother. Like a woman in a trance, Harriet goes to a French hairdresser and has her long hair cut short. Perhaps she should cut her hair in the new shingled way that’s the height of fashion, Ruby tells her, then she could wear the new style of hat she’s considering. ![]() When she meets Harriet again, on a shoplifting run in a department store, she cheekily suggests she should update her style. She wants to take on bigger jobs and wear beautiful clothes and jewellery. Ruby wants to do more work with the Elephant Boys. The story follows these two women as they each pursue their ambitions. However, her fascination with Ruby seems to be much more than journalistic interest. She’s been hired to write pieces for the woman at home, such as ways to wear the new style of hat, but Harriet has ambitions for so much more, thinking she might write a piece about the young thief she’s seen. Harriet has ambitions beyond being an MP’s wife, she wants to be a journalist and her father permitted her to ask for a job with the evening paper. Harriet is the real deal, a young woman from a very good family, engaged to an up and coming member of parliament. In fact, she’s on a joint job with her lover Billy from the Elephant Boys, when she first runs into Harriet Littlemore. Ruby has been one of the Forties for years and due to her looks doesn’t always attract suspicion in the fancier stores. Ruby is one of a female gang known as the Forty Thieves (the Forties) who commit crimes from pick-pocketing for the young members to shoplifting and even jewellery theft for those more experienced members. I felt immediately in the story and fascinated by the two main female characters. While I loved Atkinson’s novel on it’s own merits, this one feels more urgent and alive. Just a couple of weeks ago I was waxing lyrical about Kate Atkinson’s novel Shrines of Gaiety and then another novel passes my way covering the same territory and the same time period. ![]()
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