One Girl Began

by Kate Murray-Browne

THREE WOMEN. ONE BUILDING. 111 YEARS...

East London, 1909. When her family fall on hard times, Ellen finds work in a box factory and is drawn into a tight-knit circle of friendship, one that will transform her life and test her in unexpected ways.

In 1984, the factory is now derelict. Eighteen-year- old Frances moves in with a group of squatters and activists who have taken over the abandoned building. As she tries to build a new life, an unsettling relationship develops, forcing her to question who she is and where her loyalties lie.

In 2020, the squat is now a gentrified conversion in a fashionable corner of the city. Amanda feels trapped in her tiny flat, overwhelmed by the demands of new motherhood and unsure of what the future holds - until the possibility of an alternative life presents itself...

From acclaimed author Kate Murray-Browne, One Girl Began is a vibrant, enthralling and moving novel about three women across three very different moments in time, connected by the same building and the forces that shape our lives.

449 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 18, 2024

About the author

Kate Murray-Browne was born and lives in London. She studied English at Cambridge University and worked in publishing for ten years before becoming a freelance editor. She is also a visual artist and has exhibited work in a number of different galleries. House Clearance is her first novel.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1963, Betty Friedan wrote in her iconic early second-wave feminist text, The Feminine Mystique, that, when she was growing up in the 1930s, 'many mothers who loved their daughters - and mine was one - did not want their daughters to grow up like them... They knew we needed something more... But... they could not give us an image of what we could be'. One Girl Began, Kate Murray-Browne's second novel, wrestles with the same problem across more than a hundred years, as signalled by the ironic quote at the start from another book by a second-wave feminist activist, Adrienne Rich's Of Woman Born (1976): 'I too shall marry, have children, but not like her. I shall find a way of doing it all differently'. Friedan and Rich, in many ways, could not have been more different: Rich was famously a lesbian feminist who wrote about the significance of lesbianism for the women's movement and argued that 'compulsory heterosexuality' trapped all women, whereas Friedan felt that homosexuality was a distraction from what feminism was really about, and infamously called lesbians 'the lavender menace' in 1969, when she was president of the US National Organisation for Women. But when it came to adult womanhood and motherhood, they had some of the same problems: Rich married in her early twenties and had three sons, not coming out as a lesbian until after her husband's death.

Two of the three protagonists of One Girl Began face the same dilemma. Ellen is in her teens in 1909, forced to become a 'factory girl' after her father's death to support her mother and her young siblings. She is well aware of the physical toll of childbearing and the risk of domestic violence faced by wives, but, talking with her friend Mary, neither of them can see an alternative:

"Aren't you scared?" Mary said... "Of what it's going to be like. After we leave the factory. Marry some bloke, endless babies, wash day every week... I don't want it." ...

"You don't have to get married," I said, although there was no woman I knew in the neighbourhood who wasn't.

In 2019, Amanda, in her late thirties, has always wanted to become a mother, has put herself through several rounds of IVF to conceive, but is poleaxed by what it's actually like to have a new baby when her daughter Iris is born, and how the mother she has become is so different from the mother she thought she'd be: 'I had thought that messy or complicated feelings about being away from your child showed a lack of resolve, something you could refuse to let in'. She'd always planned to go back full-time to her journalist job after maternity leave, but after the Covid-19 pandemic hits and her plans are knocked off course, she finds herself wondering if she'll instead become one of those women she was determined not to emulate, who step back from their career after having a baby.

One Girl Began focuses on the communities women build together, whether that's through trade unions, squatting, communal living or activist camps like Greenham Common (it's not on screen but it gets a shout-out!), but despite this refreshing lens, it is in many ways a sad book. We really feel the characters' limited options, even in the present day, because of the way British society boxes in women who want to combine the meaningful work of a career with the meaningful work of motherhood. In the interstices of the narrative, we glimpse other women whose dreams were curtailed, such as the pair of middle-class women who come to work in a settlement house in the East End in 1909, and who possibly love each other, but are forced to go home to get married to men. Even the one wholly positive story about a working-class woman who manages to train to become a doctor in inter-war Britain feels almost like it's there as a taunt, an unachievable exception. But Murray-Browne's writing is as clear and beautiful as it was in her debut, The Upstairs Room, and this lifts what might otherwise be both familiar and grim material. She writes so well about motherhood that even somebody like me, who is tired of reading about babies, was totally engrossed.

I also loved the way Murray-Browne threads a map of key locations through and beyond Hackney, letting us see how the characters move through the same landscape without it ever feeling either difficult to follow or heavy-handed. Most obviously, all three women have ties to the same building: it's a box factory where Ellen works in 1909, a ruin where Frances squats in 1984, and a gentrified block of flats for Amanda in 2019. But I also adored how they all encounter other spaces: a house on Digby Street where Ellen moves in 1909 is identifiable by its fireplace tiles, 'purple curling petals on a pale-yellow background'; it's a squat in 1984, when Frances goes there to have a bath; Amanda's friend Lucy, an eco-conscious single-mother-by-choice, lives there with another new mother in 2019. The Black Hart pub is where Ellen gets a quart of gin, where Frances works behind the bar, and where Amanda attends a nursery rhyme group. The women all swim in Hampstead Heath Ladies' Ponds.

I was absolutely absorbed in much of this novel, but I do feel the 1984 sections fell a bit short. Frances's story feels tangential to the central themes of One Girl Began: she has no children but also seems to do little else with her life. Maybe this is Murray-Browne's point: that having no children doesn't mean that you automatically become some brilliant star, and that's OK. But it feels a little off in a novel that is otherwise so centrally about motherhood; it would have made more sense to me if Frances had either become a mother or made a deliberate choice to not have children, but instead it seems to be a lingering sadness for her, which skirts a bit too close to childless stereotypes for me (though don't worry: this is no Expectation ). I also personally just found her a bit wet: almost any of the other women we meet in 1984 (Jane, Naomi, Susie, Violet) would have made a more interesting protagonist. It made me want a companion novel about women without children, whether they are childless-by-circumstance like Frances, are happily 'childfree', or, like me, have chosen not to have children not because they would never ever want them but because they don't want to bring up children under our current social order.

But that isn't this novel, and One Girl Began does great things in its own right: it's thoughtful, vivid and skilful, it made me really care about Ellen and Amanda, and it's so good on how we seize small moments of joy or opportunities for change. Highly, highly recommended, even if, like me, you are allergic to novels about early motherhood or multi-generational historical fiction.

I received a free proof copy of this novel from the publisher for review.

[Jo_Scho_Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hackney, London. Where there is a building which has stood for over a century. It’s had so many different incarnations over the years & this is the story of three women who lived within its walls.

There’s Ellen. Back in 1909 she lives with her mother and younger siblings. Life is hard, money is tight but as Ellen gets a job in a box factory it helps to make ends meet. Then when baby Iris comes along, life gets even tougher. But the bonds she makes with her factory friends help ease her load.

Fast forward to 1984 & Frances, a young eighteen year old girl still coming to terms with the sudden death of her father, finds herself living as a squatter in the building, now long abandoned. Surrounded by more confident housemates, Frances feels awkward & out of her depth, as even the most basic things like washing & eating prove difficult. And then there’s her odd relationship with Nick…

Finally it’s 2020 & as Covid hits, new mother Amanda is forced to leave her home with her husband Oliver & move into a converted flat in the factory with her new friend Lucy & her baby. As the world changes drastically, Amanda & Lucy are brought together, bonding over the intensity of this huge change to both of their lives.

A fascinating concept; a snapshot of a building and suburb, standing sentinel as time moves on around it. Spanning over a century, it highlights both the differences & similarities these three women experienced. I was interested in all of them. Ellen’s life was so tough that I sympathised greatly with her. But she was positive & cheerful & did her best, it was impossible not to admire her.

Frances was more reserved, probably my least favourite. But I was still fascinated by her & in turn, horrified by her circumstances. Then Lucy; I loved her descriptions of the complexities of motherhood. She brought back memories of when my own children were born & I was navigating exhaustion & adoration & disbelief over how much my life had changed.

A very well written tale of feminism, empowerment & survival - and of hopes and fears and dreams and desires.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clever novel, constructed around a one time factory in Hackney. It was where Ellen, whose family had fallen on hard times in the very early 20th century, was a factory worker making boxes. Where Frances, who'd recently left school, lived with a group of squatters. And where Amanda, in the early 21st century lived too, in the factory' latest incarnation as an on-message but inconvenient apartment development. All three women are very much products of their time, all aware of their growing awareness of the lot of women, albeit differently expressed at these different moments in history. All the young women struggle with their situation, and to some extent sink before they can swim. But we get to know them well, to sympathise with and root for them. A lightly and sympathetically drawn feminist history of Hackney, its inhabitants and its changing social fortunes.

[Kylie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.
3 different women over 3 separate eras all having the factory as their common thread.
I liked Ellen's story of being a young woman working in the factory and finding a new life after the death of her father. A good story of finding friendship, living hand to mouth, discovering a voice to invoke change and the disparity of life from before and life in the now.
Amanda's story was an interesting look at motherhood and finding yourself in this new role. She was hard to like and I found her selfish and self-absorbed for much of the story. Did she have PND? Was she depressed? Questions I would have liked to delve into more.
1984 and Frances' story of squatting in the abandoned factory... boring
Basically a teenager who can't find where she fits in and falls into life in the squat. There was no real story here and I found myself skimming through these chapters. It wasn't until the end and she found herself with Susie that I began to like this part of the book.
The writing was a annoying, Particularly the overuse of I said, she said, he said after each person's speaking quotation. Once I noticed it I couldn't ignore it.
The idea was good but the execution was clumsy.

[Annette Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really easy read, really absorbing stories about 3 women across a century linked very subtly by the same buildings. The writing trots along beautifully and is ideal as an undemanding but interesting summer read.

[Sam Saunderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

One line in this book simply said 'Why bother?'. I'm asking the very same question

[Deborah Siddoway · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book where one place - a factory building in Hackney - dominates the narrative trajectory of the novel, linking the three female characters whose individual stories are told throughout the novel. While the setting of the novel became such an important component, it was never at the expense of the integrity of the characters, and the character development throughout, with each of the women having their own voice, their own experience, their own foibles, and most importantly, their own agency.

Ellen, Frances, and Amanda were women who were individually very relatable characters, and while each faced very different struggles in their lives, each encountering the powerlessness and voicelessness that often accompanies the experience of being female, whatever generation they have been born into, the reader is able to identify with each of them.

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of the novel was that while the novel was, of necessity, so concerned with the place it was set, each of the women struggled to find her own place within that space. It highlighted that regardless of the time period each was born into, the struggles for each of them had a commonality to them, this sense of wanting to belong, to find their own place in that space. This is where Murray-Browne excels. My heart broke for each of the characters at various points. It is a beautiful novel, and a rewarding reading experience.

[Saffy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first novel I’ve read by the author and I was drawn to it by the synopsis. I love dual time frame novels, particularly those set at the turn of the twentieth century. The novel focuses on three women who are all connected by the same building. In 1909 the building is a factory where Ellen finds an escape at work from her family’s poverty, in 1984 Frances lives in the building which is now a squat and in 2020 new mother Amanda lives in the now gentrified flat at the start of the pandemic.
I loved the exploration of the building, how its use changed over a century and how the history of a building very much remains. It was an excellent way to explore and draw the reader into the lives of the three women who each had difficult challenges in their lives. I was completely immersed in the sections about Ellen in 1909 and found some of the other sections felt too long as I raced to get back to 1909. An interesting read that I enjoyed.
3.5 stars
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

[Rebecca Molyneux · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this book really grabbed me, the setting staying the same but the story told through the lives of three different women spanning over 100 years. I love genealogy and house history so was hopeful.

But it was a great idea poorly executed. At the centre are the three women, two of them I didn’t warm to, the links between the locations were sometimes not obvious, and the prose surrounding the narrative was repetitive and basic. The earliest section was my favourite, which was about conditions working in a box factory in Hackney and fighting for basic human rights. The later sections were just irritating.

[Hannah Symonds · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is crazy how one building can shape three women's futures. The story is set in three years and in all of the years I found it unbelievably interesting to read about. You can tell this story has ben researched well and in a lot of detail. I felt as though I learnt things I never would of even thought of let alone knew. It was an interesting insight into three generations of women but with a sensitive touch. I would like this book to be turned into a film, that would be really good.

[Eleanor Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this- it was a super easy read! I liked how even though all the characters were distant relations somehow, the book was really centred around spaces (like Amanda's nan's flat, the factory, Digby street) and explored these places through time. I thought each of the characters' story was well developed and insightful. I only wish that Frances had exposed evil Nick!!!!

[Laura Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable book, easy read and interesting topics. Loved reading about east London across the last 100 years!
Each woman had very different challenges that felt exclusive to being a woman, in the three different time frames. Wonder if the next 100 years will be the same!

[Teryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting story line about women from 3 different eras, with a common link, struggling with the challenges of being a woman.

[Susan Toovey]

7

[Lynsey B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book just like the author's first. I was excited to find little and big nods / references to the other stories. Very clever and I cared a lot about all the characters.

[Antonia Miles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like it’s a book I should have loved but I ended up finding myself just wanting it over with