Old Baggage

Description

Perfectly timed for the centenary of the women's vote in 2018, OLD BAGGAGE takes a unique approach to the suffragette story. Mattie was once a militant campaigner but now in middle age, she finds herself a purposeful woman without a purpose. As featured on BBC Radio 4 Good Reads 'A timely, bittersweet comic novel' Guardian ____________________ What do you do next, after you've changed the world? It is 1928. Matilda Simpkin, rooting through a cupboard, comes across a small wooden club - an old possession of hers, unseen for more than a decade. Mattie is a woman with a thrilling past and a chafingly uneventful present. During the Women's Suffrage Campaign she was a militant. Jailed five times, she marched, sang, gave speeches, smashed windows and heckled Winston Churchill, and nothing - nothing - since then has had the same depth, the same excitement. Now in middle age, she is still looking for a fresh mould into which to pour her energies. Giving the wooden club a thoughtful twirl, she is struck by an idea - but what starts as a brilliantly idealistic plan is derailed by a connection with Mattie's militant past, one which begins to threaten every principle that she stands for. Old Baggage is a funny and bittersweet portrait of a woman who has never, never given up the fight. ____________________ 'Essential . . . Evans is a brilliant storyteller' Stylist

Lissa Evans has written books for both adults and children, including the bestselling Old Baggage, Their Finest Hour and a Half, longlisted for the Orange Prize, Small Change for Stuart, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Costa Book Awards amongst others, and Crooked Heart, longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.

Wise and witty -- Sarah Hughes * Observer * I loved Old Baggage. Such original characters, and so timely. And it made me weep at the end. -- JoJo Moyes Utterly wonderful and intelligent -- India Knight * Sunday Times Magazine * A timely, bittersweet comic novel * Guardian * Old Baggage gives an inspiring model of womanhood. Moving, warm and wry. It is wonderful! -- Marian Keyes