“Thinking all Silvers are evil is just as wrong as thinking as all Reds are inferior… What my people are doing to you and yours is wrong to the deepest level of humanity. Oppressing you, trapping you in an endless cycle of poverty and death, just because we think you are different from us? That is not right. And as any student of history can tell you, this will end poorly.”

This book is 11 years old and still stands true

There’s something so enchanting about the women of this novel. Sometimes, I feel like characters can fall flat, or just not be developed enough to the point of being able to feel their presence. Maggie O’Farrell makes me feel them. I feel as if I know them, or as if they know me. Agnes and Eliza in the past timeline, Agnes and Mary in the current timeline, Eliza and Anne, Susanna, Judith — their connections are so deep and well-rounded, fully fleshed out. It has been a long time since I have read a novel that made me feel as if I truly knew a character, any character, as well as I know these women. It is refreshing, captivating, and empowering.