The Eights - by Joanna Miller (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Four young women. Four very different lives. One unshakeable friendship.

Following the unlikely friendship of four women in the first female class at Oxford, their unshakable bond in the face of male contempt, and their coming of age in a world forever changed by World War I.

"Entertaining and moving...I came to love these four women as though they were my sisters." --Tracy Chevalier, #1 New York Times bestselling author

In 1920, in the wake of World War I and for the first time in its one-thousand-year history, Oxford University officially admits female students. Bursting with dreams, four young women move into Corridor 8. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne, and Otto--collectively known as The Eights--come from all walks of life, each searching for an unknown future while holding tight to their secrets. A brash socialite too smart for her own good. A beautiful sister arriving in place of her lost soldier brother. A too-tall daughter desperate to escape her famous suffragette mother. A timid scholarship student with the biggest secret of all. Their unlikely friendship will change them in ways they could never have imagined.

Among the historic spires and hallowed halls, and in the dark shadow of the Great War, the four women must rely on one another to survive a turbulent world where misogyny is rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of our great loves don't always remain dead.

Review Quotes

A New York Times Richly Imagined New Historical Fiction
A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book of Spring
A Book Riot Best Historical Fiction of April
A Brit & Co. New April Book to Add to Your Calendar STAT
A Christian Science Monitor Best Read of April

"The Eights is an entertaining and moving imagining of four smart women dealing with the engrained misogyny of the time. I came to love these four women as though they were my sisters."
--Tracy Chevalier, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Glassmaker

"Stellar. Richly Imagined." --New York Times Book Review

"Author Joanna Miller's latest offers a refreshing, gripping portrait of Oxford in an era of great change. Four women -- the school's first female students -- forge unexpected friendships, confront rife misogyny, cling tightly to their secrets, and attempt escaping the ghosts of World War I."
--Entertainment Weekly

"Heartfelt and engaging..." --Woman's World

"A story about women taking their place in a man's world, The Eights beautifully captures the power of friendship and love in the wake of extraordinary loss. It was a pleasure to read."
--Pip Williams, New York Times bestselling author of The Dictionary of Lost Words

"Miller's engrossing debut follows the first women undergraduates eligible to earn degrees at Oxford University.... They're unlikely allies, a novelistic trope that Miller transcends through insightful and surprising characterizations.... It's a memorable tale of a fast-changing world."
--Publishers Weekly

"Miller describes campus life in vivid detail, and her protagonists are complex, with hidden motivations and insecurities that are gradually revealed as their friendships develop. This pairs well with Helen Simonson's The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club and Kate Quinn's The Briar Club."
--Booklist

"A heartfelt, thoughtful, and engaging book about the first women students to go to Oxford University - their friendships, their secrets, their ambitions and their opponents - in the tremulous, haunted years immediately after the First World War. Joanna Miller brings 1920s Oxford to life with a vivid immediacy and makes us care deeply about four young women who find themselves pioneers in a strange new world, trying to find a way forward in the aftermath of war. A thoroughly lovely debut that will win many hearts, with its celebration of friendship and the persistence of hope."
--Joanna Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Whalebone Theatre

"My book of the year. The writing is wonderful, the subject fascinating, and the storylines utterly absorbing. I'm so sad I've finished it. I loved everything about this book. I ADORED it."
--Jill Mansell, Sunday Times bestselling author of Rumor Has It

"The past feels aston­ishingly present in Joanna Miller's debut...Rigorously researched, The Eights bril­liantly synthesizes fact and fiction, and the trials and triumphs of the quartet are deeply relatable. [Surrounding a] debate about whether women have any business being at Oxford ... The Eights is a rewarding read for anyone who enjoys emotional, character-driven narra­tives and for anyone who celebrates impeccable writing. But most of all, it's for anyone who has ever been told they couldn't do something but did it anyway."
--BookPage

"I so enjoyed The Eights and became completely involved in the lives of the four pioneering heroines whose friendship is the beating heart of the book."
--Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures

"Impeccably researched and eloquently told, The Eights is steeped in rich history and brings to light a very important time in history. Highly recommended."
--Fresh Fiction

"I fell in love with this book from the first chapter...A vivid portrait of young women finding their way in a man's world under the long shadow of the Great War. It's dripping with historical detail...The true strength of this novel is the realisation of how powerful female solidarity can be. A joyous anthem to friendship, it made me want to pick up the phone to my best girlfriends."
--Kate Thompson, author of The Little Wartime Library

"Witty and charming...an atmospheric testament to the power of friendship and the tenacious young women who led the charge for equality of opportunity."
--Jessica Bull, author of A Fortune Most Fatal

"Readers will root for the well-written characters and share in their trials. Recommended for readers who enjoy historical fiction as well as women's fiction."
--Library Journal

"Historical fiction fans will want to flag this buzzy debut, which tells the story of four of the first-ever women to earn degrees at Oxford University."
--Goodreads

"The Eights is rich in detail of time and setting shown through four skillfully handled points of view. The ravages of the war and the infuriating struggle of women to make a place for themselves and hold it, never becomes didactic but grows organically from the circumstances of their lives. The author's ear for dialog, for the telling detail, for the moment when humor may overcome sorrow, is masterful. Highly recommended."
--Historical Novel Review

About the Author

Joanna Miller was raised in Cambridge, UK, and studied English at Oxford University. After a decade in education, she set up an award-winning poetry gift business and her rhyming verse has been filmed twice by the BBC. Miller recently graduated from Oxford again, with a diploma in creative writing. She lives with her husband and three children in Hertfordshire. The Eights is her first novel.