One Quiet Woman

This is a great book and in my view worth more than five stars. Set in the depression after the first world war it has great characters and all of them are believable. Even the baddies come across as believable even though we may wish such people never existed. The very credible story line starts with a brother desperate to do the best for his brother who had been gassed in WW1 and has trouble breathing, He finds a lady who's life has been turned upside down when her father is killed at the laundry where he worked, Leah has a much younger sister that she has to bring up as her mother had died several years back on top of the loss of her loving father. Then in the same day she is given two offers that could prove the answer to her problems but neither are wonderful at first sight. This is such a good book and should be at the top of your must read list in my view, that is taking in view some of the story is definitely for adults but dealt with in a real but sensitive manner.
I have been given a free copy of this book in return for a honest review from NetGalley.

I first came across Anna Jacobs's books quite by chance whilst looking for a good read amongst the books in my local library 6 years ago. This is the third Anna Jacobs novel I have read after Cherry Tree Lane (Wiltshire Girls #1) (which was the library book) and An Independent Woman, which was an ARC.

The story of One Quiet Woman takes place in the northern village of Birch End where 22-year-old Leah lives with her younger sister, Rosa, who is only 10 but very chatty and mature for her age.

Their parents died and she's all her sister has. They don't have much, and struggle to make ends meet like so many people in this story set after world war 1. This is made worse in their case by problems paying the rent where they are living not helped by a nasty rude landlord, and so they are forced to look for somewhere else.

Charlie's brother Jonah was gassed in the war and has breathing problems. Charlie is going to marry soon and so Jonah has to move out so Charlie and his wife can live in the house. With his health condition, Jonah needs some care and Charlie mentions this to Leah, who at first is reluctant as she already has to do all the chores in their current home plus be there for her sister. She's the kind of person who loves helping people but is torn between loyalties: does she work at the laundry firm where she has worked for a long time and which was where her father was working when he died, or does she take up Chalie's offer?

The decision becomes easier when she loses her job and, buoyed on by the hope of a better quality of life for Rosa and herself, she accepts. There's another condition tied to Charlie's offer: he thinks Jonah will be better off married as he fears he may feel alone and not be able to manage without his brother's help. Leah is against marrying for convenience, but she sees that if she goes ahead, they will all benefit from the situation in their own way, so she accepts the offer as she dreams of a better life for her and Rosa.

After a small ceremony which is more extravagence than she and Rosa have ever been used to, she and her sister move to Ellindale, a town on the Moors, but will their lives change for the better? I loved Leah and Rosa's joy at having dresses for the wedding and new clothes in general. The sense of excitement and anticipation during the wedding preparations is really lovely and touching to see. It got me excited too!

This book is full of a sense of sheer gratitude for life and the small things, both on Leah's and Rosa's part for the new luxuries and comfort in life they experience because of Charlie's offer, and the fact their lives are made richer by Jonah's company, as his is by theirs.

It is a book of contrasts. We see Leah and Rosa's humble home at the beginning of the book, and hear of economic difficulties, not just theirs but those of the population in general at this particular time in history. There's hardship generally, not helped by "means testing," which resulted in many people having their belongings taken away and having to resort to desperate measures to get money to live off (for example pawning any objects of value they may have).

Some parts and themes of the book are quite sad, but are nonetheless the reality of the time and place in which the book is set (1930's Lancashire and some parts of Yorkshire). There are many references to the "north/ south divide" in the UK, in which poverty was rife in the north, with people from the south (or "southeners" as people in the north called them, and still do today) enjoying more feeedom and a lot less hardship.

As a geographer with a degree in Human Geography, the "how people lived and how they changed society" years ago really does fascinate me, and I was drawn into how hard people worked to make a living any way they could. References to tourism interest and traveling in the north by people from the south and the rise of the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) in England was interesting, too.

What really touched me about One Quiet Woman, though, were the characters. Every single one was so vivid and had something special to offer the story. Leah is caring and forward-thinking as well as ambitious and passionate with a huge drive to help those less fortunate than herself.

Rosa has the enthusiasm of a 10 year old to want to discover new things and an eagerness to be treated as a person older than her years but we see she still has the vulnerability of a person her age and there are some "pre-teen" moments, but I put those down to everything she's already been through in her short life.

Jonah is caring and does everything he can to make people feel at ease with his lavish offers and conversation. Even Ben was a character I liked, as he showed his gratitude to Leah and the others during his stay with them.

All in all, One Quiet Woman was a hugely enjoyable page-turner for me which I never wanted to end, and which I loved so much I'll have to give 5 stars.

Thanks to Anna Jacobs and her publisher for this ARC. Anna Jacobs is my favorite historical fiction writer and my goal is to read all her books. Every one I have read so far has made a huge impression on me. Although full of complex historical and social issues, her books make for very easy reading and always completely absorb me in their words.

One Quiet Woman is no exception to this rule. Don't forget to have the tissues ready. It's an emotional read. I felt I was there with the characters. Anna Jacobs has a real talent for showing hardship and joy but most of all for representing parts of northern England in her writing so accurately. As someone who was born and bred in the south of England but who has family and friends from the north, I'd say no other author does this better than Anna Jacobs.

Highly recommend this book! Very pleased to be able to participate in the blog tour for this title.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers, Hodder & Stoughton for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m ashamed to admit that this is my first Anna Jacobs book! I work in a library, and the shelves are full of her books, but I’ve never read them! This book seemed like a good place to start. It is the first book in a new series based in the 1930’s in Ellindale, Lancashire.

Leah is left looking after her younger sister Rosa after her father dies in an accident whilst working in the local laundry business. Her mother died several years before, so it’s down to Leah to raise Rosa and to bring home the money to be able to keep a roof over their heads. The owner of the laundry feels bad for Leah as the accident happened at his business and vows that he will give her a job and make sure that she is not put out on the streets, but his wife is the landlord of the house that Leah lives in and plans to evict Leah and Rosa as they do not have the rent money.

Leah gets a visit from Charlie Willcox, the local pawnbroker. His brother Jonah is disabled due to being gassed in the war and Charlie is looking for a wife to look after him and feels that Leah would be perfect. After Jonah and Leah meet and enjoy each other’s company, they agree to get married and move to Jonah’s cottage in the tiny village of Ellindale. Leah settles into married life, comfortable in the knowledge that Jonah is wealthy enough to support them all. One night though, some men from a local rough family take Rosa and try to assault her. Leah and Jonah rally help from the local people in the village to help protect them from this danger.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with this book. Like I said, I’ve never read an Anna Jacobs book before, and I’m not sure what I expected but it certainly wasn’t this. This was a book of family, love, friendship and loyalty. Set in the times before the Second World War but as the country was still feeling the after effects of the First World War, you realise the hardships that people still had to make. Leah was left on her own, a young woman with an even younger sister to bring up with no government help and obviously facing the difference in wages between men and women that they experienced in those time. Thankfully, finding Jonah, Leah was able to have a comfortable life, financially, but all this money couldn’t buy the safety they needed when there were no telephone lines in the village and no electricity. Things that we take for granted now were a luxury then. I also liked the way, if like is the right word, that references are dropped into conversations about how another war is unlikely and the First World War was the war to end all wars, almost to the point of being blissfully ignorant that it could happen again….if only they knew what was to happen to them and the country over the forthcoming years.

As the book is being marketed as part of a series I expected a cliff-hanger at the end. There is no cliff hanger which means that this book can be read as a standalone if wanted. It does however leave it open for the story to continue and expand on some of the characters that we have met in this book, and hopefully to continue Leah’s story in the hope that she gets what she really wants.

An enjoyable book, not my usual read, but will definitely be looking out for the next in the series. I may also pick one of the books of the shelf at the library as well to see if the other books are just as good!

Five Stars!