Crooked Pieces by Sarah Grazebrook
Maggie seems to be going up in the world. Compared to living with her impoverished family and watching her mother being worn down by childbearing, working as a maid is a big improvement. Her new life allows her to enter a completely different world, the world of the suffragettes and, more than that, the Pankhursts - Emmeline, Christabel and Sylvia - icons for a generation of women in search of justice, equality and the right to vote. Then another new face enters her life - and it's a handsome one at that. Maggie soon falls for young Fred Thorpe and before long they are 'walking out' together. But any joy she feels at their relationship is tempered by the knowledge that he is a police officer and, as such, is the sworn enemy of the women's movement. Drawn into an increasingly militant battle with the authorities and Government, Maggie is torn between her loyalty to the man she loves and her passionate belief in the cause for which she is fighting. She and her comrades are determined to achieve their goal, but just how much is Maggie prepared to sacrifice? A beautifully written and emotionally charged narrative, "Crooked Pieces" offers a glimpse into our collective past and pays tribute to the women who dared to change history.