Nevertheless She Persisted by Jon Walter ** Blog Tour Review** #Suffrage100

2018 marks the centenary of the Representation of the People Act in the UK whereby some women were given the vote in parliamentary elections. It is also 90 years since women got to vote on equal terms to men. Within that context, I am thrilled to have been invited to take part in the Blog Tour for the publication of Jon Walter's Nevertheless She Persisted. One glance at the cover tells you that the fight for female suffrage is intrinsic to the story as it is in the colours of the Suffragettes- purple, white and green.  

Clara and Nancy, two sisters working in Holloway Prison in 1913, find themselves face-to-face with imprisoned suffragettes: women fighting for the same freedoms they want for themselves. Soon Nancy is drawn to one inmate in particular - the enigmatic `Duchess' - and decides to follow her into the fight. But Clara is torn by the very laws her sister has chosen to try to change. She's fallen in love, and yet marriage would mean giving up the job she loves, and losing her independence forever. How can she possibly choose between the two sides of her heart and not lose a part of herself?

   

Here's what the publishers, David Fickling Books has to say about the book:
 

A moving novel offering a truly new perspective on the Suffragette struggle. 

“Anyone can set fire to things.” “But most people don’t. You’re one of the special ones.” 

1914. Two sisters on opposing sides of the Suffragette movement. One, an up-andcoming prison warden responsible for overseeing the force-feeding of hunger strikers. The other, swept up in the deeds of the cause. A poignant look at the struggle from both viewpoints. 

Making the hardest decisions in life takes astonishing courage. Making a stand for justice. Realising that following your heart can mean the loss of your freedom. Capturing the truth of such choices takes a writer of rare talent. In Clara and Nancy, Jon Walter has created two exceptional characters.  Exploring themes of protest, both on a political and personal scale, as well as family and feminism, Walter’s empathetic writing is a call to arms, urging us to be courageous enough in our own lives to do the memory of the Suffragettes proud. 

“There is so much in the struggle for female suffrage that still resonates today.” – Jon Walter 

c. Books, Life & Everything

My Thoughts

I always find reading about the Suffragette and the Suffragist movements to be very moving and some of the attitudes of the time seem almost incomprehensible. It is hard to picture what actually living in a society which treated women in this way must have been like. This is a very powerful and affecting read which poses some difficult questions. I liked how the personal lives of the two sisters were intrinsic to the story and also underlined how women had to take power to themselves if they were to find fulfilment.  

    This is a clever and well plotted book which takes both sisters on journeys you would not expect from the opening chapters. Poverty and lack of opportunity, together with the loss of independence which women had upon marriage in Edwardian times impact on their decisions. Not that they had a great deal of independence as single women, as they were in a way seen then as 'daughters' and Jon Walters casts a harsh light on the relationships within Clara and Nancy's family. I longed to know what their mother's story was.

    The passages which dealt with the force feeding of the hunger strikers are vividly written and as they should be, are quite shocking. The courage of the protesters shines through as they take risks in order to further the Cause. Above all, it is the dynamic between Clara and Nancy which is so fascinating as they both develop different attitudes about how to get the independence they yearn for, and the price they are prepared to pay.

In short: Deeds not Words

About the Author 

A former photojournalist, Jon Walter is the acclaimed author of Close to the Wind and My Name Is Not Friday. He was inspired to write NEVERTHELESS, SHE PERSISTED after reading Sylvia Pankhurst’s biography and being gripped by one question: when is it right to break the rules?

 Book link: Amazon UK

Publisher link: David Fickling Books |  Twitter

Thanks to Jon Walter and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for a copy of the book and a place on the tour. 

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