Old Baggage - by Lissa Evans (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

#1 UK Bestseller

"A thoughtful, funny, companionable novel...executed with verve."--London Times

The author of the acclaimed Crooked Heart returns with a comic, charming, and surprisingly timely portrait of a once pioneering suffragette trying to find her new passion in post-WWI era London.

1928. Riffling through a cupboard, Matilda Simpkin comes across a small wooden club--an old possession that she hasn't seen for more than a decade. Immediately, memories come flooding back to Mattie--memories of a thrilling past, which only further serve to remind her of her chafingly uneventful present. During the Women's Suffrage Campaign, she was a militant who was jailed five times and never missed an opportunity to return to the fray. Now in middle age, the closest she gets to the excitement of her old life is the occasional lecture on the legacy of the militant movement.

After running into an old suffragette comrade who has committed herself to the wave of Fascism, Mattie realizes there is a new cause she needs to fight for and turns her focus to a new generation of women. Thus the Amazons are formed, a group created to give girls a place to not only exercise their bodies but their minds, and ignite in young women a much-needed interest in the world around them. But when a new girl joins the group, sending Mattie's past crashing into her present, every principle Mattie has ever stood for is threatened.

Old Baggage is a funny and bittersweet portrait of a woman who has never given up the fight and the young women who are just discovering it.

From the Back Cover

1928. Matilda Simpkin is a woman with a thrilling past and an infuriatingly dull present. As a militant suffragette, she marched, smashed windows, heckled Winston Churchill, and was jailed five times. Now in middle age, the closest she gets to the excitement of her old life is the occasional lecture on the history of the movement, given to a lukewarm audience.

But after being shocked to discover that an old comrade has embraced Fascism, Mattie realizes that there is a new cause and a fresh generation to fight for. Thus, the Amazons are formed, a club that gives girls a place to exercise their bodies and minds, igniting a much-needed interest in the world around them. It's a wild success until a new recruit sends Mattie's past crashing into her present, and every principle she has ever stood for is threatened.

Old Baggage is a funny and bittersweet portrait of a woman who has never given up the fight and the young women who are just discovering it.

Review Quotes

" I loved Old Baggage. Such original characters, and so timely. And it made me weep at the end." - Jojo Moyes

"Enchanting." - Library Journal

"Vibrant... Teems with period atmosphere and zesty satiric glee." - Booklist

"Mathilda 'Mattie' Simpkin is a clever, lovably nonconformist heroine... a vividly complex, sympathetic if flawed protagonist." - The Sunday Times

"Hard to resist. Evans impresses again.... Evans, an appealing writer with a taste for unusual historical characters and perspectives as well as sly comic surprises, draws a nicely detailed portrait of post-World War I England." - Kirkus

"Enchanting... Readers will be captivated." - Publishers Weekly

"Moving, funny, and the most satisfying of reads, Old Baggage is a delight from start to finish." - Independent

"A great novel should contain wonderful writing, interesting ideas and an absorbing plot - but most of all what we remember about it are its characters. Mr Pickwick, Falstaff, Emma, Sherlock Holmes, Isabel Archer, Jeeves - these are what make fiction shine. A new star has been added to this constellation and her name is Mattie Simpkin. Lissa Evans' heroine both is, and carries, the old baggage of the novel's title." - Daily Telegraph

"Lissa Evans's gift for comedy edged with satire and pathos is God-given." - Daily Mirror

"Affecting...a timely read." - Guardian

"Teems with atmosphere and perfect period detail...unforgettable." - Sunday Mirror