Old Baggage
Perfectly timed for the centenary of the women’s vote in 2018, Old Baggage takes a unique approach to the lives of the women who fought so hard to win us the vote. And we have 50 copies to give away as part of our July book club.
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 funny and a bittersweet portrait of a woman who has never, never given up the fight.
"There are some writers whose books you can’t wait to get your hands hands on. Lissa Evans is one of those. Old Baggage is warm, tender, hilarious and so clever" - Paula Hawkins
"Old Baggage gives an inspiring model of womanhood. Moving, warm and wry. It is wonderful!" - Marian Keyes
Lissa's previous novel, Their Finest Hour and a Half was longlisted for the Orange Prize and made into 2017 britflick sensation Their Finest starring Gemma Arterton and Bill Nighy. Her last novel, Crooked Heart, was longlisted for the Baileys Prize for Fiction. She lives in London.
Old Baggage is published by Doubleday and is available online and from all good booksellers. If you're lucky enough to receive one of our free copies, we need you to add your questions and comments for Lissa to the thread (coming soon!) by the end of July.
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