The Courage Game

In Europe we live in privileged times when women and men should be treated equally. In 1880 Gladys Hazel was one of a large English family, despised by the Irish peasants and looked down on by the English gentry. She developed a deep sense of moral fairness and determined to improve the conditions of the poor. With a teaching qualification she started working in the slums of Birmingham but realised nothing would change when men were in power, and women did not have the right to vote. Commitment and Courage drew her into The Cause of the Suffragette Movement but left many physical and emotional scars. Jeni Whittaker relates this story with compelling detail, drawing the reader into life choices and moral dilemmas, with inevitable consequences which seem increasingly hopeless. Through written reflection Gladys can gain peace. These diaries and poems were packed in a family attic until found by the author's father, Gladys's nephew. It is to the Courage of Gladys we should turn for hope in our own times.

Gladys Hazel was a real person who led an extraordinary life. What makes her story so enjoyable to read is Jeni Whittaker's skill in getting into her personality and character, bringing her to life so vividly and sympathetically. She constantly questions her own motivation and actions, even challenging the ideas and methods of the Suffragettes. The Courage Game is a powerful novel that explores the human costs of political struggle while also celebrating the courage of women who fought and gained freedoms taken for granted today.

This is a book I have been waiting for for a long time, the Suffragettes was such an important movement and yet not much literature/fiction around it exists and so this book is special. it was so readable and i became really invested in the characters and their plights. The settings were really good and the vivid descriptions and imagery of the living conditions and the poverty felt in these settings was noth heartbreaking and humbling. A really great book that I didnt want to end. Original review: