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See the Stars by Eleanor Ray #Review

  See the Stars by Eleanor Ray will be  published on February 5th 2026 by Piatkus .  Do you ever feel that life isn't going to plan?   When Alice Thorington collapses in the street after a particularly hellish day at work, she must finally admit to herself that her outwardly happy life - steady relationship, well-paid job, beautiful flat in the city - isn't everything she'd hoped it would be. Burnt out by long hours and living a life that doesn't fulfil her dreams, Alice returns home to Yorkshire.  Her childhood home brings complicated family dynamics, a rediscovery of her passion for stargazing and two new friends: Berti, a boy who finds it easier to count the stars than interact with people, and Matt, her brother's best friend and Alice's teenage crush. With each of them facing their own struggles, can the stars that meant so much to Alice in her past help them to find their way in the present?  Filled with heart and warmth, this uplifting novel...

Film: Suffragette written by Abi Morgan, directed by Sarah Gavron










Suffragette which was released in 2015, deals with the fight for women's suffrage in Britain in its early days. Set in 1912-13,it focuses on the working class women of the time through its central, fictional figure of Maud, a laundry woman. We are taken through her growing awareness of the Suffragette movement, first as an observer caught up in a demonstration of direct action, through to her imprisonment and continued fight for the vote. We are shown the conditions which Maud has worked and lived in, and the compromises she has had to make in order to exist. Not all supporters of women's suffrage believed in taking a violent direct approach but it is after the women's testimonies before Parliament come to nothing, that many became increasingly militant.

The film shows us the effect on working women of supporting the suffrage movement. Maud's husband does not understand why it is not enough for her to be his husband, subject to his decisions. Women's place in society is determined by their husband. This is demonstrated most heartrendingly when she is cast out of the home and her son is given away to a middle class family to be adopted.

The film does not attempt to give us the whole picture around the women's suffrage movement. We are shown the consequences for some of those who defied the authorities, most brutally resulting in force feeding and imprisonment. This was only part of the background which led to the eventual decision to change voting regulations both for men and women. The film is set before the First World War during which the women's direct violent action was ceased. After the war, the authorities realised that they had to extend the franchise for men and women, following the efforts of all the British people. What the film does do is to capture the women's frustration, anguish and determination to carry on. Most movingly, the film finishes with actual footage from the funeral of Emily Wilding Davison who had died at the Derby, protesting near the King's horse.

It is hard to pick out individual actors but Carey Milligan produces a subtle and understated performance as the central character, Maud. Meryl Streep has a memorable cameo as the leader of the Women's Social and Political Union, appearing as a symbol of the movement both within the film and to the wider audience.

In short: an inspiring film which weaves actual events and people within a fictitious story. It held my attention right to the end of the rolling credits.  

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