Skip to main content

strictly literary: radio girls by sarah-jane stratford

every once in a while i do get away from the world war ii historical novel, somewhat fittingly i read radio girls in between reading the summer before the war and everyone brave is forgiven i say fittingly because this book takes place in britain between the wars. it is the earliest days of the bbc and at a time where women were beginning to work outside the home regardless of class, in professional environments. it's difficult to fathom now, but europe post-world war i was marked by a generation of young men lost. women had opportunities they wouldn't have simply because there weren't enough able-bodied men left to fill in every space.
between

maisie musgrave is a nursing veteran of the war, she lied about her age (she was only fourteen at the time) to do something to help the cause. since the war ended she's completed a secretarial school and finds a job at the british broadcasting corporation, yes that bbc. it's the early days of radio, and people are still skeptical about this box that talks. but maisie is excited by her work there. even though she is a simple secretary she gets to see people like hilda matheson and john reith at work building an empire in a new medium. the novel takes us through the early days of the bbc, gives us a sense of the inner working of early broadcast radio.

maisie is a fictional character and while radio girls is nominally her story, it's really the story of hilda matheson. she was a pioneer at the bbc, not only for broadcast radio but also for feminism. she was also a lesbian at a time where homosexuality was very much a taboo. (sometimes one reads these novels taking place in times past and shudders to realize both how far and how little we've advanced since then.) there isn't much known about hilda's biography other than the broad strokes, she was at the bbc, she also worked at mi-5, and she also published a book about broadcast radio. so maisie serves as the person who both learns from hilda and the person who fills in some of the gaps in hilda's biography with fiction. and it works.

i enjoyed the relationship between these two women. maisie looks up to hilda, as she should because hilda was a pretty amazing woman. when you consider all that she accomplished, all the shows she produced at that particular moment in history, it's pretty cool. this is also a time of political upheaval. europe is still re-building after the great war. the germans are restless, crushed under severe war penalites. the bolshevik revolution is still too recent to be viewed with anything but suspicion. working at the bbc means keeping abreast of all the news and happenings, and it also means sharing that information. radio changes how information is shared. for once it can be shared immediately, across great swathes of population regardless of economic class. i enjoy reading about this moment in european history. the early twentieth century was one change after another, it's a time period that provides fertile ground for good stories that still have resonance today. this is one of them.

**radio girls published on june 14, 2016. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of penguin's first to read program in exchange for my honest review.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

simply catching up on all things general hospital

hmmm, it's been months since i've blogged about gh . partly this is due to the fact that i fell behind while i was traveling. partly because all the outrage lapsed into disinterest when i realized i couldn't bring myself to care anymore and everything that was happening was just so trite and boring. some days i still feel that way. and there are still whole storylines that i either hate or just fast forward through. but there are some good things too. in no particular order, here are my thoughts on the goings-on in port charles: 1. soras [and why re-casting roles works on soaps even if you do miss the original actors]: the new, older versions of sonny's kids are turning out to be quite enjoyable. [although hilariously, cameron whom i believe is older than molly is now younger. and because cameron is so cute, i'm kind of hoping they won't fix that. we also haven't seen spencer in ages, so he may be approaching 50.] in any case, at this point we've only s

genre debate: urban fantasy versus epic fantasy: team epic gets their say

Team Epic: Why I Love Epic Fantasy! Since it's my blog, I'll go first: Epic fantasies take you on quests that take you beyond the limits of what is real. The rules can be different, they are different, and everything just matters more. It's not just one life at stake, it's lives, it's a whole world, a whole way of being. Epic fantasies force you to use your imagination and take you on an adventure to places you never thought possible, but as different as everything feels, there are still things that are always real, no matter how you write it. Keep reading to see what a handful of Entangled TEEN authors think about epic fantasies: Erica Cameron - Island of Exiles (The Ryogan Chronicles, #1): Why do I love epic fantasy? It's a blank slate. We can erase all of our preconceived notions of society and law and even science, throwing all of that over the side of a cliff. Epic fantasy lets us push humanity well past the breaking point with ever

simply a preview of the forbidden by jodi ellen malpas

Releasing on August 8, 2017, read on for more information about The Forbidden , including an excerpt and giveaway! Synopsis What do you do when you can't control your feelings for someone? When you know you shouldn't go there? Not even in your head.  Annie has never experienced the 'spark' with a guy-the kind of instant chemistry that steals your breath and blindsides you completely. Until a night out with friends brings her face to face with the wickedly sexy and mysterious Jack. It's not just a spark that ignites between them. It's an explosion. Jack promises to consume Annie, and he fully delivers on that promise. Overwhelmed by the intensity of their one night together, Annie slips out of their hotel room. She is certain that a man who's had such a powerful impact on her and who could bend her to his will so easily, must be dangerous. But she's already in too deep. And Jack isn't only dangerous. He is forbidden.