Old Baggage

Product Information

Old Baggage would probably have remained unread but for the fact I found a copy in a little free library on the very day I felt the need for some lightish reading material to serve as an antidote to the darkness of Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy.

The depictions of London during wartime was very well done, and the story touched on interesting aspects of life in wartime, some of which I hadn’t thought about before. It was utterly engaging; I was there, I was involved, I cared. An emotional story of human kind during a trying time when survival is a task. Bittersweet enraptured story. Noel is a ten-year-old boy who has lived with his Godmother Mattie for most of his life. We don't know why he lived with her and not his parents, but she has moulded him into a tiny shadow of herself. Mattie was a suffragette, she didn't agree with school, or with war and Noel has had a most unusual childhood. The story begins with Mattie's demise into senile dementia, and Noel does his best to cover up for her, but it's clear that he can't carry on for much longer. As surprising as this sounds, this was a heartwarming tale. I know WWII Historical doesn’t immediately bring up thoughts of humor and a smile on your face as you finish reading, but Crooked Hearts did that. This very unlikely duo has stolen my heart. Old Baggage gives an inspiring model of womanhood. Moving, warm and wry. It is wonderful!" - Marian KeyesBut upon discovering a wooden club in an old bag, she wonders perhaps if there is still not more to do and can you still be idealistic and principled ten years after the main event. Mattie is also fond of sprinkling her speech with quotations from authors, historians and philosophers. There’s one that’s used in the book, and is extremely appropriate to the story, even if there seems to be some debate on who originated it. Oh, I'm telling you right up front that Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans is going to be one of my top reads for 2015!

If you bring a car seat for an infant under 2 years of age and wish them to sit in this car seat for the duration of the flight, you will need to book an extra seat for them. You may bring a car seat on board for an infant or child if it is approved for flying.

Podcast

I appreciate the theme of this book. Who benefits from war and can benefiting from war be moral? Most people would first think about major war profiteers; for instance, large companies that make and supply arms, tanks, planes, anything used for fighting. Not Evans. She writes about the minor war profiteers, the small time swindlers trying to make a bit of extra cash. This is an interesting idea but the execution of it in this book just didn't work for me. The characters were well-drawn but they were all a bit too silly. This reminds me of watching British comedy shows from Monte Python to Absolutely Fabulous. Everyone in the room with me is laughing except for me. Same with this book. I didn't laugh when I knew I was supposed to laugh, I wasn't charmed when I was supposed to be charmed. Perhaps the cold Colorado winter has frozen my heart. Mattie feels she has no purpose in life. She's now middle aged and feels she is seen by others as old baggage. When Mattie meets an old suffragette friend who is now a facist, Mattie decides to take on a new challenge. Although this story can be a bit slow in parts, it can also be engaging and funny in others. It is quite informative on the facts about the suffragettes lives. You can't help but like Mattie, a wonderful character. She makes mistakes but is not afraid to fight for what she believes in. What happens isn't really the point; the story is about people whose love for each other is the breath of life for them. And how much that costs. And who, in the end, must pay for it. That is the sum total of living life, after all, counting costs and weighing benefits and, in the end, accepting the evidence of honest and trustworthy scales as The Truth. Crooked Heart, while also delving into the seriousness of war without going as far as to take us to the battle lines, is also instilled with a dark humor that I feel is most appropriate for that day and age. Because even though there is sadness that is saturated into every nook and cranny and hangs over the city like a pall, there’s still some humor to be found and Evans characters use it as a coping mechanism to get through these trying times. Wonderful, wonderful novel, I’m so very glad I took the chance on this obscure little gem of a read. Perfectly timed for the centenary of the women’s vote in 2018, Old Baggage takes a unique approach to the lives of the women who fought so hard to win us the vote. And we have 50 copies to give away as part of our July book club.

I have read and loved two books by Lisa’s Evans, Crooked Heart and Old Baggage, and V for Victory is the stunning follow-up to these two books. You can read it on its own, but it’s so special to read it after the other two because of the richly drawn characters. Initially, I took the moral high ground when confronted with Vee's scams. But, my opinion rapidly changed as I got to know Vee and Noel. I found myself soundly in their corner - and hoping they could scam the scammers. Evans nicely explores right and wrong through many characters and situations in Crooked Heart. And by the end, it's impossible to say that a little bit of wrong isn't a little bit right. In a large house next to Hampstead Heath, Vee Sedge is just about scraping by, with a herd of lodgers to feed, and her young charge Noel (almost 15 years old) to clothe and educate. When she witnesses a road accident and finds herself in court, the repercussions are both unexpectedly marvellous and potentially disastrous – disastrous because Vee is not actually the person she’s pretending to be, and neither is Noel. The book focuses on what life was like towards the end of the war when there was still a lot of danger but maybe a glimpse of hope that everything would end soon. It was incredibly interesting to see what day to day life was like and to learn, through Winnie, what the role of a warden entailed. I thought this was really vividly described and helped me picture the scene and the characters in my mind. I often felt like I was inside the book, living everything alongside the characters. I’ve immediately begun the author’s next book ( ‘Old Baggage’), which includes some of the same characters, but the events of which take place before this book.Noel’s mourning his godmother Mattie, a former suffragette. Wise beyond his years, raised with a disdain for authority and an eclectic attitude toward education, he has little in common with other children and even less with the impulsive Vee, who hurtles from one self-made crisis to the next. The war’s provided unprecedented opportunities for making money, but what Vee needs—and what she’s never had—is a cool head and the ability to make a plan.

The right was granted, under rather stringent conditions, in 1918 in the exhausted aftermath of World War I. At which point the movement towards women’s equality collapsed. (If this sounds familiar, let’s just say the pattern repeats). Matilda Simpkin, Mattie to her friends is all the things I have described and more. She is a lady of a certain age, who having been a militant activist within the Suffragette movement has now reached a stage in life where she finds she is of no use, she has no purpose. She is simply seen by others as Old Baggage. Old Baggage is funny and a bittersweet portrait of a woman who has never, never given up the fight. Together they cook up an idea. Criss-crossing the bombed suburbs of London, Vee starts to make a profit and Noel begins to regain his interest in life.

Books

When I finished reading Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans, my first thought was that it reminded me of a cross between Cold Comfort Farm, I Capture The Castle and Goodnight Mr Tom. Those aren't comparisons I would ever make lightly - in fact, it's about as strong an endorsement you could get from me. Evans has created such tangible characters in Vee and Noel. I like them both very much, but I must admit that my heart belongs to Noel. He's clever and kind, a teenager now, but inside he's still the boy without parents. That need to know propels one of the plot lines in this latest. There are other characters, each with their own plotlines as well - Winnie the local air raid warden, her twin sister turned author, and the myriad lodgers. And slowly but surely, the disparate threads start to weave themselves together. The wartime setting is also a character in Crooked Heart. The rationing, the attitudes, the bombings and more all shape, direct and change the course of each and every character. But the game of getting by is not always on the up-and-up. And the London bombings do happen and the war IS a major player in their lives. And to say more of the story from here on would spoil the fun of reading the book. So just get it and read it. And hopefully you’ll find it as fresh a take on WWII as I did.