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Wonder Girls
Don't follow the crowd,' she'd be telling schoolgirls at the swimming baths. 'Follow your own star and when you have achieved your goal you will have that with you for the rest of your life...'
In 1928, a plucky young Welsh girl named Ida Gaze swims the Bristol Channel with the help of her best friend Freda and the inspiration of her heroine Amelia Earhart.
In 1937, on the instructions of the matron, a young skivvy at a grand maternity hospital in London smuggles out an orphaned baby on one of the coldest nights of the year.
Now, in a small town in Wales, an old lady named Ceci pieces together these stories and is about to discover the surprising ways in which they link to her own. It begins with two girls in the twenties who left their small Welsh village for the Big Smoke, feeling that the world was changing and everything was possible…
In 1928, a plucky young Welsh girl named Ida Gaze swims the Bristol Channel with the help of her best friend Freda and the inspiration of her heroine Amelia Earhart.
In 1937, on the instructions of the matron, a young skivvy at a grand maternity hospital in London smuggles out an orphaned baby on one of the coldest nights of the year.
Now, in a small town in Wales, an old lady named Ceci pieces together these stories and is about to discover the surprising ways in which they link to her own. It begins with two girls in the twenties who left their small Welsh village for the Big Smoke, feeling that the world was changing and everything was possible…
416 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2012
2 people are currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Jones
3 books2 followersCatherine Jones read English at Cardiff University and Washington State University before training as a journalist. Wonder Girls is her first novel. The title is taken from the headline of a 1929 newspaper which covered the crossing of the treacherous Bristol Channel by swimmer Edith Parnell, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl from Penarth in Wales, who was hailed as 'The Wonder Girl' for her courageous and avant-garde triumph.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
February 13, 2021
The premise sounded so promising and it started well enough but overall I wasn't overjoyed over the story. Going from 2009 back to 1920 and 1937 and a mystery of identity it has a very promising plot. But the story felt lacking and while it was very readable it wasn't very exciting trying to figure out the mysteries
June 3, 2012
'You never know, it might be the start of something,' Ida said. 'Showing people what we can do instead of being told what we can't.'
It is 1937, and this novel opens with an episode during which we meet fourteen-year-old Cecily Stirling cleaning up in a maternity hospital in London, when she is asked by Sister to take a baby out of the hospital. We then meet Cecily again, in 2009, right at the other end of her life, as she makes a new friend, Sarah, and slowly makes new discoveries about the past. Then we are taken back in time to 1928, when change is in the air, and it is there that we begin to learn the story of Ida Gaze and her best friend and constant companion Freda Voyle.
Fifteen-year-old Ida is a strong swimmer, whom we meet waiting by the pool at the start of the 1928 Annual Gala in the small Welsh seaside town that is her home. The setting is beautifully and lovingly evoked so that the reader can picture the scene in their mind: 'the lido was a spectacle in itself. With its curved white walls and blue ralings, it was as handsome as a grand ocean liner docked for good on the headland...it was the largest, bluest pool in Wales with the sky stretching forever as its ceiling. It took your breath away, it really did.'
With Freda's great encouragement and support, and inspired by Amelia Earhart's recent feat crossing the Atlantic in the air and landing in the sea off Wales, Ida declares she is going to be the first person to swim the Bristol Channel, despite a large amount of skepticism from the people of the town, in particular because she is a woman. She will swim through 'the dangerous grey waters which separated Wales from England. Men with muscles like prize marrows were always trying to swim from the town's bach to Weston and being hauled out of overpowering currents halfway. Nobody had done it and nobody thought anyone - let alone a girl - would ever get to the other side.'
As the story progresses, the two best friends go to London together, looking for new experiences and exploring new possibilities, pursuing dreams far beyond the limitations and constraints of those available to them in their hometown. Freda had been the more reluctant of the two to leave. She is described by people back in her hometown as an 'oddball', a woman who stood out in those days because she, like Ida, didn't conform to people's expectations - she 'hated housecraft class as much as Ida did' and wore 'baggy trousers', and 'She noticed things, and understood things nobody else did' and she 'never accepted adults knew better.' They are both breaking free from places and people that would otherwise hold them back, Freda because of how she is judged in her hometown, and Ida because her unhappy parents are so narrow in their views. There is a delightfully apt description of them: 'Having a go at Ida seemed to be the only time they talked to each other. She'd come to think of the two of them as a pair of brackets with nothing in between.'
The two friends have different experiences of life in the Big Smoke: Ida seeks to build a career in journalism, and Freda intends to train as a nurse, and as they meet with disappointment and success, their friendship must change to encompass these different lives if it is to stay strong or even survive. For Freda, 'it had always been Ida who made her feel whole'. And equally, Freda 'gave Ida's life such detail.' As the reader gets to know the two friends, there are subtle intimations as to deeper feelings between them. But will the two of them ever want the same thing? I would like to write about the rest of the story, but I will not go into it any further here because what happens from here onwards is for the reader to discover themselves - I must merely write that the second half of the story is very moving and revelatory as the future unfolds and life deals its cards to Ida, Freda and Cecily.
I loved the different parts of the story, moving between the past and present, and how the story gradually builds in mystery, and then we have the unravelling of secrets, as the links to the past are slowly uncovered, until the full picture is revealed at the end.
It was wonderful to experience life with these strong female characters, to endure the pure joys and successes and dispiriting lows and sadness that they lived through, to witness the spirit of these women who broke away, to see how life changed for them and how they changed, who they ultimately became. The author illustrates the way life twists and turns, how we dream of one thing but don't always see what is right in front of us, how much we are willing to do for love and friendship, and the heartache when we can't always be everything that someone else wants us to be.
The author writes beautifully; the descriptions of people and places are so evocative, taking us back to times and places now lost to history, and recreating them vividly for us to experience here. It was an added pleasure to read at the end of the book about the real-life wonder girls of the times, and to hear about the background to some of the places in the story. The novel also has a wonderfully atmospheric and fitting cover image and styling.
Freda remarks at one point that she used to enjoy reading her brother's comic when she was younger, 'but you've got to wonder why it's always the boys who get the heroes as though girls can't do brave things too.' Well, not anymore, for here are those brave girls.
I shed a tear as I closed the book, very reluctant to leave these characters behind.
It is 1937, and this novel opens with an episode during which we meet fourteen-year-old Cecily Stirling cleaning up in a maternity hospital in London, when she is asked by Sister to take a baby out of the hospital. We then meet Cecily again, in 2009, right at the other end of her life, as she makes a new friend, Sarah, and slowly makes new discoveries about the past. Then we are taken back in time to 1928, when change is in the air, and it is there that we begin to learn the story of Ida Gaze and her best friend and constant companion Freda Voyle.
Fifteen-year-old Ida is a strong swimmer, whom we meet waiting by the pool at the start of the 1928 Annual Gala in the small Welsh seaside town that is her home. The setting is beautifully and lovingly evoked so that the reader can picture the scene in their mind: 'the lido was a spectacle in itself. With its curved white walls and blue ralings, it was as handsome as a grand ocean liner docked for good on the headland...it was the largest, bluest pool in Wales with the sky stretching forever as its ceiling. It took your breath away, it really did.'
With Freda's great encouragement and support, and inspired by Amelia Earhart's recent feat crossing the Atlantic in the air and landing in the sea off Wales, Ida declares she is going to be the first person to swim the Bristol Channel, despite a large amount of skepticism from the people of the town, in particular because she is a woman. She will swim through 'the dangerous grey waters which separated Wales from England. Men with muscles like prize marrows were always trying to swim from the town's bach to Weston and being hauled out of overpowering currents halfway. Nobody had done it and nobody thought anyone - let alone a girl - would ever get to the other side.'
As the story progresses, the two best friends go to London together, looking for new experiences and exploring new possibilities, pursuing dreams far beyond the limitations and constraints of those available to them in their hometown. Freda had been the more reluctant of the two to leave. She is described by people back in her hometown as an 'oddball', a woman who stood out in those days because she, like Ida, didn't conform to people's expectations - she 'hated housecraft class as much as Ida did' and wore 'baggy trousers', and 'She noticed things, and understood things nobody else did' and she 'never accepted adults knew better.' They are both breaking free from places and people that would otherwise hold them back, Freda because of how she is judged in her hometown, and Ida because her unhappy parents are so narrow in their views. There is a delightfully apt description of them: 'Having a go at Ida seemed to be the only time they talked to each other. She'd come to think of the two of them as a pair of brackets with nothing in between.'
The two friends have different experiences of life in the Big Smoke: Ida seeks to build a career in journalism, and Freda intends to train as a nurse, and as they meet with disappointment and success, their friendship must change to encompass these different lives if it is to stay strong or even survive. For Freda, 'it had always been Ida who made her feel whole'. And equally, Freda 'gave Ida's life such detail.' As the reader gets to know the two friends, there are subtle intimations as to deeper feelings between them. But will the two of them ever want the same thing? I would like to write about the rest of the story, but I will not go into it any further here because what happens from here onwards is for the reader to discover themselves - I must merely write that the second half of the story is very moving and revelatory as the future unfolds and life deals its cards to Ida, Freda and Cecily.
I loved the different parts of the story, moving between the past and present, and how the story gradually builds in mystery, and then we have the unravelling of secrets, as the links to the past are slowly uncovered, until the full picture is revealed at the end.
It was wonderful to experience life with these strong female characters, to endure the pure joys and successes and dispiriting lows and sadness that they lived through, to witness the spirit of these women who broke away, to see how life changed for them and how they changed, who they ultimately became. The author illustrates the way life twists and turns, how we dream of one thing but don't always see what is right in front of us, how much we are willing to do for love and friendship, and the heartache when we can't always be everything that someone else wants us to be.
The author writes beautifully; the descriptions of people and places are so evocative, taking us back to times and places now lost to history, and recreating them vividly for us to experience here. It was an added pleasure to read at the end of the book about the real-life wonder girls of the times, and to hear about the background to some of the places in the story. The novel also has a wonderfully atmospheric and fitting cover image and styling.
Freda remarks at one point that she used to enjoy reading her brother's comic when she was younger, 'but you've got to wonder why it's always the boys who get the heroes as though girls can't do brave things too.' Well, not anymore, for here are those brave girls.
I shed a tear as I closed the book, very reluctant to leave these characters behind.
July 18, 2020
Interesting premise but I just wanted more Freda. If I’d not just read Gardam’s Flight of the Maidens I would probably have liked this more but it seemed like a poor shadow. I did like the portrayal of the friendship between Ceci and Sarah which is the catalyst for unlocking the past.
August 8, 2012
I was smitten as soon as I saw that cover – my home town boasts an art deco bathing pool – and when I finally held the book in my hands and began to turn the pages I was hooked before the story even began, by two wonderful quotations from beloved authors.
“I suppose there is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, but an expansion, an interpretation of one’s self, the very meaning of one’s soul.”
Edith Wharton
“Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, and try to follow where they lead.”
Louisa May Alcott
Those words capture the themes that underpin this debut novel with such eloquence.
A scene, set in 1937, finds fourteen-year-old Cecily working as a hospital cleaner. The sister of the maternity ward asks her to take the newborn baby of a dying woman outside, and to wait.
And then another scene, set in 2009, finds Cecily mourning the loss of her life’s companion, realising that the end of her life is not far away, but suddenly curious to know more about the past that Freda, her companion, had kept to herself.
That led her to the story of Ida Gaze.
Ida grew up in a small Welsh town, loving to swim, loving to spend her days at the lido. And in 1928 she announced that she was going to swim the Bristol Channel between Wales and England. Men, strong men, had tried and failed, and nobody took her seriously. But Ida had determination. She had inspiration: the American aviator, Amelia Earhart, who had landed nearby after becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. And she had support and encouragement, from her best friend, Freda.
My heart was in my mouth as Ida struggled to reach her dream.
And then a question formed – what next?
Ida wanted to go to London. Freda was a misfit in her home town, but she was reluctant to leave. In the end though the call of friendship would prove louder than the call of home.
Ida looks to build a career in journalism and Freda plans to train as a nurse. life takes them in very different directions. And their friendship in stretched. maybe it will break …
And then the story shifts, to unravel the relationship between Freda and Cecily.
The links between seemingly disparate plot strands suddenly fall into place.
Catherine Jones writes beautifully, picking out just the right details to bring her characters and their world to life. And she exercised just the right amount of restraint. She didn’t offer expanations, she simply let her characters speak, leaving space that allowed me to wonder, to interpret, to try to understand. That worked so very well.
It was her characters who made the story sing. They could so, so easily have become caricatures, women reaching for the stars in an era when they were expected to want nothing more than to become home-makers. But they didn’t. They were flawed, fallible, individual, and utterly real. they met with success and with failure, and that changed them, and their relationships.
They weren’t always sympathetic, but they were always interesting, and utterly believable.
And those wonderful themes were wrapped around them so effectively.
I found much to praise, but I also have reservations.
I am not sure that the book’s structure served the story well. It was told in two parts and I found the first, the story of Ida and Freda, much more engaging than the second, the story of Freda and Cecily.
And once I worked out how the plot must join up there was less to hold me. The story was moving, but it was also a little predictable.
I can forgive that though, when the themes are so lovely, the characters are so well drawn, and the ideas at the heart of the story are so inspired.
Real lives underpin this story, and it is a very fine tribute to them.
“I suppose there is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, but an expansion, an interpretation of one’s self, the very meaning of one’s soul.”
Edith Wharton
“Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, and try to follow where they lead.”
Louisa May Alcott
Those words capture the themes that underpin this debut novel with such eloquence.
A scene, set in 1937, finds fourteen-year-old Cecily working as a hospital cleaner. The sister of the maternity ward asks her to take the newborn baby of a dying woman outside, and to wait.
And then another scene, set in 2009, finds Cecily mourning the loss of her life’s companion, realising that the end of her life is not far away, but suddenly curious to know more about the past that Freda, her companion, had kept to herself.
That led her to the story of Ida Gaze.
Ida grew up in a small Welsh town, loving to swim, loving to spend her days at the lido. And in 1928 she announced that she was going to swim the Bristol Channel between Wales and England. Men, strong men, had tried and failed, and nobody took her seriously. But Ida had determination. She had inspiration: the American aviator, Amelia Earhart, who had landed nearby after becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. And she had support and encouragement, from her best friend, Freda.
My heart was in my mouth as Ida struggled to reach her dream.
And then a question formed – what next?
Ida wanted to go to London. Freda was a misfit in her home town, but she was reluctant to leave. In the end though the call of friendship would prove louder than the call of home.
Ida looks to build a career in journalism and Freda plans to train as a nurse. life takes them in very different directions. And their friendship in stretched. maybe it will break …
And then the story shifts, to unravel the relationship between Freda and Cecily.
The links between seemingly disparate plot strands suddenly fall into place.
Catherine Jones writes beautifully, picking out just the right details to bring her characters and their world to life. And she exercised just the right amount of restraint. She didn’t offer expanations, she simply let her characters speak, leaving space that allowed me to wonder, to interpret, to try to understand. That worked so very well.
It was her characters who made the story sing. They could so, so easily have become caricatures, women reaching for the stars in an era when they were expected to want nothing more than to become home-makers. But they didn’t. They were flawed, fallible, individual, and utterly real. they met with success and with failure, and that changed them, and their relationships.
They weren’t always sympathetic, but they were always interesting, and utterly believable.
And those wonderful themes were wrapped around them so effectively.
I found much to praise, but I also have reservations.
I am not sure that the book’s structure served the story well. It was told in two parts and I found the first, the story of Ida and Freda, much more engaging than the second, the story of Freda and Cecily.
And once I worked out how the plot must join up there was less to hold me. The story was moving, but it was also a little predictable.
I can forgive that though, when the themes are so lovely, the characters are so well drawn, and the ideas at the heart of the story are so inspired.
Real lives underpin this story, and it is a very fine tribute to them.
June 18, 2012
This book takes place in modern times when Cecily thanks to a new friend starts to wonder who a girl in a photo is. All things will come together in the end but the question was how. And that had me wondering.
In 1928 Ida and Freda are 16 and thinking about their futures. Or more like it trying not to think too much about it as parents nag. Ida loves to swim and wants to be free, but being like this she still seems to be the one who has the most to lose. While Freda is a bit more guarded, but at the same time she does not care at all what others think and is free with her emotions and feelings. Feelings towards her friend too. They are quite opposites in a way but they are both outsiders and friendship blossom. We follow them through trying times.
From the start I know that Cecily knew Freda, but she never knew Ida. So this old lady is trying to put the pieces back together. All while I am wondering about 1937 and the baby, but we get to that again and slowly the story unfolds. What really happened. And it's both sad and heartbreaking.
The title comes from the wonder girl that Ida was and that Freda too was. And they were go-getters in their own ways. But the book also shows that even if you have everything then something might still be missing. It's also a beautiful tale about friendship, first Freda and Ida, and then how a young woman named Sarah befriends Cecily and starts asking questions. Friendship through the ages is what the book is about, and how people can change. And of course it's also about those early women who broke boundaries and went where only men had gone before.
Conclusion:
A good story about now and then, and quite the mystery too as the story comes to us as the years go by.
In 1928 Ida and Freda are 16 and thinking about their futures. Or more like it trying not to think too much about it as parents nag. Ida loves to swim and wants to be free, but being like this she still seems to be the one who has the most to lose. While Freda is a bit more guarded, but at the same time she does not care at all what others think and is free with her emotions and feelings. Feelings towards her friend too. They are quite opposites in a way but they are both outsiders and friendship blossom. We follow them through trying times.
From the start I know that Cecily knew Freda, but she never knew Ida. So this old lady is trying to put the pieces back together. All while I am wondering about 1937 and the baby, but we get to that again and slowly the story unfolds. What really happened. And it's both sad and heartbreaking.
The title comes from the wonder girl that Ida was and that Freda too was. And they were go-getters in their own ways. But the book also shows that even if you have everything then something might still be missing. It's also a beautiful tale about friendship, first Freda and Ida, and then how a young woman named Sarah befriends Cecily and starts asking questions. Friendship through the ages is what the book is about, and how people can change. And of course it's also about those early women who broke boundaries and went where only men had gone before.
Conclusion:
A good story about now and then, and quite the mystery too as the story comes to us as the years go by.
September 7, 2024
DNF @ 6%
November 17, 2012
Time Taken To Read - 2 days
Blurb From Goodreads
Don't follow the crowd,' she'd be telling schoolgirls at the swimming baths. 'Follow your own star and when you have achieved your goal you will have that with you for the rest of your life...'
In 1928, a plucky young Welsh girl named Ida Gaze swims the Bristol Channel with the help of her best friend Freda and the inspiration of her heroine Amelia Earhart.
In 1937, on the instructions of the matron, a young skivvy at a grand maternity hospital in London smuggles out an orphaned baby on one of the coldest nights of the year.
Now, in a small town in Wales, an old lady named Ceci pieces together these stories and is about to discover the surprising ways in which they link to her own. It begins with two girls in the twenties who left their small Welsh village for the Big Smoke, feeling that the world was changing and everything was possible…
My Review
This story centers around 3 ladies, Ceci (who is mostly present day), Ida Gaze and her best friend Freda (their story is in the 1920s mostly). The book breaks down from the present day set in the 90s and back to where it all began in the 20s and 30s. Ceci is an elderly lady befriended by a young woman after her friend has passed away and slowly finds herself wanting to tell this young lady her story.
Freda was regarded as weird, wrong whilst her best friend Ida was bright, outspoken and years ahead of her time. Ida wants to do something with her life and starts by getting a job as a reporter and making the news herself by swimming the Bristol Channel. Upon slowly being shunned by their people Ida decides her and Freda should leave for London and embark on a new journey, together forever. What follows will test their friendship to the limits and show how far friendship can go and a bond between friends can last over the years.
It is a beautiful story and for a while I wasn't sure where Ceci would come into it but by the end all becomes clear. You have two main friendships set over a different time scale with love laced through it, secrets and promises that threaten the family and a whole host of issues throughout. There were some parts I felt didn't really add to the story and maybe padded it out a wee bit and I felt myself being a tad bored. Otherwise it was a sweet tale and I learned something too, I hadn't realized women did the swim across the Chanel (I am the first to admit my knowledge of history is abysmal). There is a little piece at the end on the two women who did the swim and what happened to them which was a lovely touch I found. All in all a nice little read and the author has a lovely style which is easy to follow and get into, I would definitely read her again and it is a 3/5 for me this time.
Blurb From Goodreads
Don't follow the crowd,' she'd be telling schoolgirls at the swimming baths. 'Follow your own star and when you have achieved your goal you will have that with you for the rest of your life...'
In 1928, a plucky young Welsh girl named Ida Gaze swims the Bristol Channel with the help of her best friend Freda and the inspiration of her heroine Amelia Earhart.
In 1937, on the instructions of the matron, a young skivvy at a grand maternity hospital in London smuggles out an orphaned baby on one of the coldest nights of the year.
Now, in a small town in Wales, an old lady named Ceci pieces together these stories and is about to discover the surprising ways in which they link to her own. It begins with two girls in the twenties who left their small Welsh village for the Big Smoke, feeling that the world was changing and everything was possible…
My Review
This story centers around 3 ladies, Ceci (who is mostly present day), Ida Gaze and her best friend Freda (their story is in the 1920s mostly). The book breaks down from the present day set in the 90s and back to where it all began in the 20s and 30s. Ceci is an elderly lady befriended by a young woman after her friend has passed away and slowly finds herself wanting to tell this young lady her story.
Freda was regarded as weird, wrong whilst her best friend Ida was bright, outspoken and years ahead of her time. Ida wants to do something with her life and starts by getting a job as a reporter and making the news herself by swimming the Bristol Channel. Upon slowly being shunned by their people Ida decides her and Freda should leave for London and embark on a new journey, together forever. What follows will test their friendship to the limits and show how far friendship can go and a bond between friends can last over the years.
It is a beautiful story and for a while I wasn't sure where Ceci would come into it but by the end all becomes clear. You have two main friendships set over a different time scale with love laced through it, secrets and promises that threaten the family and a whole host of issues throughout. There were some parts I felt didn't really add to the story and maybe padded it out a wee bit and I felt myself being a tad bored. Otherwise it was a sweet tale and I learned something too, I hadn't realized women did the swim across the Chanel (I am the first to admit my knowledge of history is abysmal). There is a little piece at the end on the two women who did the swim and what happened to them which was a lovely touch I found. All in all a nice little read and the author has a lovely style which is easy to follow and get into, I would definitely read her again and it is a 3/5 for me this time.
September 6, 2013
I heard the author being interviewed on Woman’s Hour and a Guardian review also implied this was more than a common-or-garden historical saga.
What a lovely, layered book it turned out to be but what offputtingly lowbrow presentation. I appreciate the title “Wonder Girls” might be taken from the newspaper story about the original 1920s swimmers but it gives such a misleadingly lightweight impression. Add in the cover’s THEY BROKE THE MOULD AND CHANGED THE WORLD and you can’t get much crasser than that.
It’s a great shame because this is a subtle, bittersweet story, layered with much sly wit and offbeat observation which I suspect may be lost on the kind of reader the book appears out to attract.
I found it gentle and sophisticated, not a page turner (a phrase and concept I despise) and nor are things spelt out. The writing is very good indeed, with a dry, honed depth which reminded me of authors like Jane Gardam and Barbara Comyns.
I can’t help initially judging a book by its publisher, as well as its cover, and have to say this was not at all what I was expecting from trashy Simon and Schuster. There don’t appear to be any other books from this author but five stars to Catherine Jones for a completely unexpected gem, albeit one mired in tackiness.
What a lovely, layered book it turned out to be but what offputtingly lowbrow presentation. I appreciate the title “Wonder Girls” might be taken from the newspaper story about the original 1920s swimmers but it gives such a misleadingly lightweight impression. Add in the cover’s THEY BROKE THE MOULD AND CHANGED THE WORLD and you can’t get much crasser than that.
It’s a great shame because this is a subtle, bittersweet story, layered with much sly wit and offbeat observation which I suspect may be lost on the kind of reader the book appears out to attract.
I found it gentle and sophisticated, not a page turner (a phrase and concept I despise) and nor are things spelt out. The writing is very good indeed, with a dry, honed depth which reminded me of authors like Jane Gardam and Barbara Comyns.
I can’t help initially judging a book by its publisher, as well as its cover, and have to say this was not at all what I was expecting from trashy Simon and Schuster. There don’t appear to be any other books from this author but five stars to Catherine Jones for a completely unexpected gem, albeit one mired in tackiness.
September 26, 2012
I really struggled with Wonder Girls, there were times when the story really engaged me, but there were more times when I became quite bored and found it difficult to keep reading.
The premise of the story is wonderful. Set in the 1920s, with a side-story set in the present day, and concentrating on three young girls; Freda, Ida and Ceci. All three of these girls were ahead of their time, with Ida being the first woman to swim across the dangerous Bristol Channel.
Catherine Jones writes well, she pulls the reader into the 1920s, with excellent descriptions of the surroundings, the fashion, the fads of the times. Although the present day story, where Ceci relates the story of her life with Freda is an interesting way to pull the book together, I didn't think it added anything to the story.
The telling of the girl's story felt halted at times, as though it was only scraping at the surface, there was far more left unsaid and I found this pretty frustrating at times.
The premise of the story is wonderful. Set in the 1920s, with a side-story set in the present day, and concentrating on three young girls; Freda, Ida and Ceci. All three of these girls were ahead of their time, with Ida being the first woman to swim across the dangerous Bristol Channel.
Catherine Jones writes well, she pulls the reader into the 1920s, with excellent descriptions of the surroundings, the fashion, the fads of the times. Although the present day story, where Ceci relates the story of her life with Freda is an interesting way to pull the book together, I didn't think it added anything to the story.
The telling of the girl's story felt halted at times, as though it was only scraping at the surface, there was far more left unsaid and I found this pretty frustrating at times.
November 19, 2018
This book had early promise, and one character who stood out Ida, but as she faded from the story then it just started to increasingly frustrate me the further I read. Especially Freda. Years went by with nothing happening apart from people getting older and children growing up. I started skim reading sections because I just wanted to get to the end, which we really already knew, but I thought there may be a few twists. But the end had no twists. Any final reunions with those living and the lives of the children Nancy and Harriet, which could have been the highlight of the book were either covered in half a page or not covered at all.
April 21, 2021
I found the overall story interesting, seeing how these women’s lives developed across the decades however some aspects of the book really bothered me. I felt that Ida was really built up in the first part of the book and then just dropped from the story towards the middle (even before the pregnancy), there was no explanation of how Ceci and Freda went from colleagues to lovers, and Freda just seemed completely insufferable. I guess it’s true to life, some people really do just hide their true feelings, but I couldn’t get behind her and felt that Ceci let her get away with too much.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 8, 2023
The blurb made this book seem interesting. The beginning was good and I started to get into the story. And then, the last 200 pages (it seemed) were about the question "who was her mother" and the various ways the answer was "I cannot tell you". Bo-ring.
November 9, 2022
Loved this story inspired by women of the 20's and 30's who achieved great things. A story of lives and love, gentle and well written.
March 11, 2023
Hard to get in to. Too many characters and the way in which they tied together just seemed unrealistic and predictable. Not for me
June 7, 2012
"You never know, it might be the start of something" Ida said, "Showing people what we can do rather than being told what we can't."
This quote is one of many inspiring statements found in this novel and it reminded me of the courage so many women exhibited during this time to effect positive change that was carried forward to future generations.
The novel's Prologue opens on a bitterly cold November night in 1937 as Cecily Stirling, a young cleaner at a posh London maternity hospital, is asked by the Matron to assist in smuggling an orphaned baby girl out of the hospital. We then jump forward in time to 2009 where a now elderly Cecily is living on her own in a Welsh seaside town and is still coming to terms with the recent death of her partner. She is befriended by Sarah, a younger woman who with her delightful dog Mungo is taking a break from London and her marriage. A photograph of a girl in an old-fashioned bathing costume prompts Sarah to encourage Ceci to talk about her past and slowly a story emerges, though it does not at first return to her life and the events of 1937 but to an earlier time.
1928 and in that same seaside town, teenager Ida Gaze decides to swim the Bristol Channel. Everyone says it cannot be done, especially by a schoolgirl but Ida, inspired by her heroine Amelia Earhart and supported by her best friend, Freda Voyle, is determined to prove them wrong. Not long after these two thoroughly modern wonder girls are headed to the Big Smoke to take on the challenges of their changing world. What transpires there dovetails into the events of the Prologue into war-time and beyond.
Although a work of fiction Catherine Jones' début novel was inspired by the achievement of a number of young women in the late 1920s who undertook to swim the treacherous waters of the Bristol Channel between Wales and England. Jones writes with great skill and confidence and I found myself drawn into the story very quickly finding her depiction of the 'Roaring Twenties' and 1930s Britain very compelling. The strongest feature for me in this brilliant novel were the characters, main and supporting, who emerged as very real people.
There are themes explored linked to love, friendship, families, growing older, loyalty, hope, loss and bereavement. Jones handles romantic love between various women in the story, whether requited or not, very delicately as befits a time when such relationships were not able to be openly acknowledged. There is also a range of relationships explored, some supportive and others destructive, yet all conveying the sense of how important women can be to each other.
This was a poignant uplifting story that I enjoyed very much. I feel this novel is one that will appeal to reading groups as it has much to recommend it in terms of a good read as well as offering plenty of points for discussion. There is no doubt that Catherine Jones is someone whose future work I'll be keeping an eye out for. My thanks to Simon & Schuster UK for sending me this novel to review.
This quote is one of many inspiring statements found in this novel and it reminded me of the courage so many women exhibited during this time to effect positive change that was carried forward to future generations.
The novel's Prologue opens on a bitterly cold November night in 1937 as Cecily Stirling, a young cleaner at a posh London maternity hospital, is asked by the Matron to assist in smuggling an orphaned baby girl out of the hospital. We then jump forward in time to 2009 where a now elderly Cecily is living on her own in a Welsh seaside town and is still coming to terms with the recent death of her partner. She is befriended by Sarah, a younger woman who with her delightful dog Mungo is taking a break from London and her marriage. A photograph of a girl in an old-fashioned bathing costume prompts Sarah to encourage Ceci to talk about her past and slowly a story emerges, though it does not at first return to her life and the events of 1937 but to an earlier time.
1928 and in that same seaside town, teenager Ida Gaze decides to swim the Bristol Channel. Everyone says it cannot be done, especially by a schoolgirl but Ida, inspired by her heroine Amelia Earhart and supported by her best friend, Freda Voyle, is determined to prove them wrong. Not long after these two thoroughly modern wonder girls are headed to the Big Smoke to take on the challenges of their changing world. What transpires there dovetails into the events of the Prologue into war-time and beyond.
Although a work of fiction Catherine Jones' début novel was inspired by the achievement of a number of young women in the late 1920s who undertook to swim the treacherous waters of the Bristol Channel between Wales and England. Jones writes with great skill and confidence and I found myself drawn into the story very quickly finding her depiction of the 'Roaring Twenties' and 1930s Britain very compelling. The strongest feature for me in this brilliant novel were the characters, main and supporting, who emerged as very real people.
There are themes explored linked to love, friendship, families, growing older, loyalty, hope, loss and bereavement. Jones handles romantic love between various women in the story, whether requited or not, very delicately as befits a time when such relationships were not able to be openly acknowledged. There is also a range of relationships explored, some supportive and others destructive, yet all conveying the sense of how important women can be to each other.
This was a poignant uplifting story that I enjoyed very much. I feel this novel is one that will appeal to reading groups as it has much to recommend it in terms of a good read as well as offering plenty of points for discussion. There is no doubt that Catherine Jones is someone whose future work I'll be keeping an eye out for. My thanks to Simon & Schuster UK for sending me this novel to review.
July 25, 2012
Wonder Girls follows the stories of a group of women from the 1920s to the present day, from the peace and quiet of a small South Wales seaside town to the hustle and bustle of the Big Smoke. It is loosely divided into two parts, although there is plenty of overlap between the two plot strands. The first half is mainly concerned with Ida, a headstrong teenager who is determined to become the first person ever to swim the treacherous Bristol Channel, and Freda, her rebellious misfit best friend. We see how their friendship develops as they struggle to fit the small-town social norms that are expected of them, and move to London to try and make something more of themselves. In the second half of the novel the reader hears from Cecily, an elderly lady in 2009 who is recounting her life story to a young friend. It soon becomes clear that the lives of these three women are intimately linked to each other and to a newborn baby girl.
I loved Catherine Jones' understated writing style throughout this novel. The relationships between the women are delicately illustrated and their emotions are portrayed in a really subtle way. There were times when I found myself reading passages over again, thinking - what exactly just happened between these two? Did I pick up on a hint of sexual tension there? Is X angry with Y or not? It was refreshing to read something in this style when all too often I come across authors who overstate all their points and deliberately explain every plot development in a way that feels patronising to the reader.
The characters feel very real. I was expecting them all to be exemplary figures of womanhood, to inspire and amaze me with their perseverance and ambition at a time when ladies were expected to do nothing more than stay at home and look after the children. However they are all flawed and emotionally wounded in their own way.
On the whole, I wouldn't say that the plot of Wonder Girls is the most gripping I've ever read but Jones more than makes up for it with her wonderful writing & character development. I'm excited to discover whatever she writes next.
I loved Catherine Jones' understated writing style throughout this novel. The relationships between the women are delicately illustrated and their emotions are portrayed in a really subtle way. There were times when I found myself reading passages over again, thinking - what exactly just happened between these two? Did I pick up on a hint of sexual tension there? Is X angry with Y or not? It was refreshing to read something in this style when all too often I come across authors who overstate all their points and deliberately explain every plot development in a way that feels patronising to the reader.
The characters feel very real. I was expecting them all to be exemplary figures of womanhood, to inspire and amaze me with their perseverance and ambition at a time when ladies were expected to do nothing more than stay at home and look after the children. However they are all flawed and emotionally wounded in their own way.
On the whole, I wouldn't say that the plot of Wonder Girls is the most gripping I've ever read but Jones more than makes up for it with her wonderful writing & character development. I'm excited to discover whatever she writes next.
June 16, 2013
I really wanted to like this book....I loved the cover of the two young women wearing bathing suits from the 1920's and I thought the story would be more about them and their swimming lives....but it wasn't and I was so disappointed about that.
It started well ..... with 14 year old Cecily who was working as a cleaner at a rich private clinic in London in 1937. One cold evening the Sister asks her to take away from the clinic the baby of a very poorly mother. But we don't know why and this leaves us with a cliffhanger until near the end.
The story then moves to the present when Cecily, now an old lady, is living on her own after her 'companion' Freda had died. Whilst looking through Freda's effects she finds an old photo of a young girl in a bathing costume and this sets her on a quest to discover who this girl was and what happened to her.
The book moves back and forth in time from the present to 1928 to a time when a 16 yr old girl called Ida Gaze (the 'Wonder Girl') becomes the first woman to swim the Bristol Channel - 11 miles of treacherous water between Wales and England. 'Nobody thought a woman would cross the Atlantic and Amelia Earhart did - so why shouldn't I cross the water to another country?'
I was really enjoying this part of the story as I found it fascinating but shortly after when Ida and her friend Freda decide to go to London to start a new life my interest waned quite a lot. I found it a little boring and I struggled to keep going....but I did and it did get slightly better as the secrets are slowly revealed.
The only character I warmed to was Cecily, I didn't like Freda at all and I couldn't understand why so many women fell for her, she was an oddball, selfish and she didn't care who's feelings she hurt with her nasty remarks.
So, it was not really my kind of book overall.
It started well ..... with 14 year old Cecily who was working as a cleaner at a rich private clinic in London in 1937. One cold evening the Sister asks her to take away from the clinic the baby of a very poorly mother. But we don't know why and this leaves us with a cliffhanger until near the end.
The story then moves to the present when Cecily, now an old lady, is living on her own after her 'companion' Freda had died. Whilst looking through Freda's effects she finds an old photo of a young girl in a bathing costume and this sets her on a quest to discover who this girl was and what happened to her.
The book moves back and forth in time from the present to 1928 to a time when a 16 yr old girl called Ida Gaze (the 'Wonder Girl') becomes the first woman to swim the Bristol Channel - 11 miles of treacherous water between Wales and England. 'Nobody thought a woman would cross the Atlantic and Amelia Earhart did - so why shouldn't I cross the water to another country?'
I was really enjoying this part of the story as I found it fascinating but shortly after when Ida and her friend Freda decide to go to London to start a new life my interest waned quite a lot. I found it a little boring and I struggled to keep going....but I did and it did get slightly better as the secrets are slowly revealed.
The only character I warmed to was Cecily, I didn't like Freda at all and I couldn't understand why so many women fell for her, she was an oddball, selfish and she didn't care who's feelings she hurt with her nasty remarks.
So, it was not really my kind of book overall.
April 23, 2014
It took me a while to get into this book, but I ended up quite liking it and enjoying it, although I wasn't hugely satisfied with the ending.
For me the book took too long to marry up the different plot strands. For too many pages there didn't seem to be a link between Ceci's actions at the start of the book, the story of the two young girls and Ceci's story now.
But in the end, the book was about a period of history that I am interested in, so I grafted on and was, in the end, fairly satisfied although I didn't find Freda or Ida particularly sympathetic characters, and being an inquisitive person I found it hard to related to Ceci's lack of curiosity/investigation into Freda (and Ida's) past - particularly given the events that she'd got caught up in.
There. I've tried to to throw any spoilers in there - so if it's cryptic, it's because I'm trying not to ruin it for anyone else!
For me the book took too long to marry up the different plot strands. For too many pages there didn't seem to be a link between Ceci's actions at the start of the book, the story of the two young girls and Ceci's story now.
But in the end, the book was about a period of history that I am interested in, so I grafted on and was, in the end, fairly satisfied although I didn't find Freda or Ida particularly sympathetic characters, and being an inquisitive person I found it hard to related to Ceci's lack of curiosity/investigation into Freda (and Ida's) past - particularly given the events that she'd got caught up in.
There. I've tried to to throw any spoilers in there - so if it's cryptic, it's because I'm trying not to ruin it for anyone else!
August 17, 2013
This story starts with brave young Ida Gaze planning to swim the Bristol Channel. At this time, 1929, girls of 16, the age of Ida and her friend Freda, were expected to take meaningless jobs while looking for suitable husbands.
Later, after Freda and Ida move to London other relationships become important and a baby being born becomes the biggest secret of all.
I enjoyed parts of this book but I also found other parts boring. Cici' s voice in part one sounded far from authentic, not helped by the story jumping backwards and forwards and trying too hard to add period information. Part two when she was revealing the secrets was easier reading. That said the premise of this book is a great one, it just needed more polish.
Later, after Freda and Ida move to London other relationships become important and a baby being born becomes the biggest secret of all.
I enjoyed parts of this book but I also found other parts boring. Cici' s voice in part one sounded far from authentic, not helped by the story jumping backwards and forwards and trying too hard to add period information. Part two when she was revealing the secrets was easier reading. That said the premise of this book is a great one, it just needed more polish.
October 3, 2015
After a shaky start, this book soon enthralled me. The author writes with style, elegance and fluency.
The characters are fascinating and the plot intriguing. It is one if those books that forces the reader to challenge their own perceptions of relationships. It reaches out to our humanity. I am struggling to describe it ,but it is a powerful read and I couldn't put it down. I agree with one review that described it as multi layered. Easily worth 4 stars. Clever stuff.
The characters are fascinating and the plot intriguing. It is one if those books that forces the reader to challenge their own perceptions of relationships. It reaches out to our humanity. I am struggling to describe it ,but it is a powerful read and I couldn't put it down. I agree with one review that described it as multi layered. Easily worth 4 stars. Clever stuff.
June 29, 2015
Abandoned
May 30, 2013
Lovely.
August 29, 2014
Painfully bad
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews