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Opal Plumstead
From the beloved children’s author of Hetty Feather, Tracy Beaker and Rose Rivers. Opal Plumstead might be plain, but she has always been fiercely intelligent.Yet her scholarship and dreams of university are snatched away when her father is sent to prison, and fourteen-year-old Opal must start work at the Fairy Glen sweet factory to support her family.She struggles to get along with her other workers, who think she’s snobby and stuck up. But Opal idolises Mrs Roberts, the factory’s beautiful, dignified owner. The best thing about Mrs Roberts?She’s a suffragette! Opal’s world is opened to Mrs Pankhurst, and the fight to give women the right to vote. And when Opal meets Morgan, Mrs Roberts’ handsome son , and heir to Fairy Glen- she believes she’s found her soulmate. But the First World War is about to begin, and will change Opal's life for ever.A brilliantly gripping wartime story from the bestselling, award-winning Jacqueline Wilson.
530 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 25, 2014
124 people are currently reading
1756 people want to read
About the author
Jacqueline Wilson
393 books5,736 followersJacqueline Wilson was born in Bath in 1945, but spent most of her childhood in Kingston-on-Thames. She always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first ‘novel’ when she was nine, filling in countless Woolworths’ exercise books as she grew up. As a teenager she started work for a magazine publishing company and then went on to work as a journalist on Jackie magazine (which she was told was named after her!) before turning to writing novels full-time.
One of Jacqueline’s most successful and enduring creations has been the famous Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in 1991 in The Story of Tracy Beaker. This was also the first of her books to be illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Since then Jacqueline has been on countless awards shortlists and has gone on to win many awards. The Illustrated Mum won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, the 1999 Children’s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and was also shortlisted for the 1999 Whitbread Children’s Book Award.
Double Act won the prestigious Smarties Medal and the Children’s Book Award as well as being highly commended for the Carnegie Medal. The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People’s Choice Award.
Jacqueline is one of the nation’s favourite authors, and her books are loved and cherished by young readers not only in the UK but all over the world. She has sold millions of books and in the UK alone the total now stands at over 35 million!
In 2002 Jacqueline was awarded the OBE for services to literacy in schools and from 2005 to 2007 she was the Children’s Laureate. In 2008 she became Dame Jacqueline Wilson.
One of Jacqueline’s most successful and enduring creations has been the famous Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in 1991 in The Story of Tracy Beaker. This was also the first of her books to be illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Since then Jacqueline has been on countless awards shortlists and has gone on to win many awards. The Illustrated Mum won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, the 1999 Children’s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and was also shortlisted for the 1999 Whitbread Children’s Book Award.
Double Act won the prestigious Smarties Medal and the Children’s Book Award as well as being highly commended for the Carnegie Medal. The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People’s Choice Award.
Jacqueline is one of the nation’s favourite authors, and her books are loved and cherished by young readers not only in the UK but all over the world. She has sold millions of books and in the UK alone the total now stands at over 35 million!
In 2002 Jacqueline was awarded the OBE for services to literacy in schools and from 2005 to 2007 she was the Children’s Laureate. In 2008 she became Dame Jacqueline Wilson.
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February 9, 2022I read this for my children's literature module and it was such a treat returning to one of my favourite authors as a child. Opal is a wonderfully fiery character (even for a JW book) and I love the suffragette backdrop.
Clever and sensitive.
Clever and sensitive.
January 6, 2015
I had it coming, I really did. I thought I could prepare myself but nope, that never happened.
Jacqueline Wilson, the woman who has sparked my interest in literature at a young age. I never would have guessed that at 17 I would come back to her only to even more blown away than I was when I was 7.
The ending wrenched my heart. I knew what was coming because I read a spoiler review but even that couldn't prepare me for everything. Her characters felt so real, their witty banter and literate minds became alive through the pages. My heart was completely invested into the whole story and I could not put it down, especially towards the end when I needed to pee very badly.
I'm surprised that this is a child's read; there are some pretty heavy themes handled in this book and mild references to, let's say things unsuitable for a younger audience. I truly believe anyone; child, teenager or adult can come to appreciate this book.
The accuracy and detailing of the time era truly allowed me to envision myself in London 1913-1915. Her descriptions of the sweets and confectionary had me drooling.
I truly cannot fault this book; even when it shattered my heart in the end. While Wilson writes in a simple, rather child like style, I truly believe it is because of that child like lens she projects through Opal Plumstead does it capture our hearts and make us forget the worries of modern twenty first century. The setting was magical and the relationships and characters were so perfectly crafted. Each of the main characters struck out; however while the story is told through Opal, I probably fell more in love with her sister Cassie and Morgan.
Cassie surprised me because I really thought Wilson would handle her character like she does in most books. The foolish, taunting and very beautiful sister to plain Opal. Cassie's big heart and spirited personality caught me by surprise. She wasn't scared to defy the standards society and her mother had barred around her; she dove head first into her own passion, despite sometimes being a little selfish. I honestly pegged her to be a cruel sister but she blew me away with her defiance, and in my defence was more of a feminist than some of the other characters.
Morgan, he was the perfect boy, almost too perfect but I'm not complaining. He truly was a reflection of Opal; their similar interests and views of the world were weaved together and their intellectual minds blew me away. He was perhaps the only character in this book who was depicted as completely flawless. I'm not sure if it's because we don't get to see him long enough, but his character, to me, was like a symbol of wholly goodness and light. He changed Opal's cynical views of love and he was the only person in Mrs Robert's life worth living for.
While the subject of war was only touched upon near the ending, Wilson carefully captured the war frenzy Britain, and through Opal, clearly expressed the lost and broken in War. The brutality of war is symbolic in it's tragic ending which I won't dwell on because I have spoiled too much already. But life carries on, and people move on despite me sobbing in the corner of my chair. There is still hope in the ending and I should probably shut up before I ruin even more.
I was proud that Wilson was able to tackle a subject like feminism in a child's book. She faulted the wrongs of many Women's rights stands but there were still doubt how crucial these women were in shaping history. While I obviously do not know Jacqueline Wilson personally, I have read her autobiographies and I must say I feel like Opal Plumstead's character is shaped quite similarly to Wilson herself. It has been a while since I read her autobiographies but still, I felt like bits of her own character definitely shone through Opal.
Overall, you probably could have picked up that this is one of the best books I've read this year. I'm glad I am ending 2014 with a book like Opal Plumstead. I don't believe in fate, just like Opal doesn't believe in ghost but for once I might try because this book has truly been a blessing to a conclusion.
Jacqueline Wilson, the woman who has sparked my interest in literature at a young age. I never would have guessed that at 17 I would come back to her only to even more blown away than I was when I was 7.
The ending wrenched my heart. I knew what was coming because I read a spoiler review but even that couldn't prepare me for everything. Her characters felt so real, their witty banter and literate minds became alive through the pages. My heart was completely invested into the whole story and I could not put it down, especially towards the end when I needed to pee very badly.
I'm surprised that this is a child's read; there are some pretty heavy themes handled in this book and mild references to, let's say things unsuitable for a younger audience. I truly believe anyone; child, teenager or adult can come to appreciate this book.
The accuracy and detailing of the time era truly allowed me to envision myself in London 1913-1915. Her descriptions of the sweets and confectionary had me drooling.
I truly cannot fault this book; even when it shattered my heart in the end. While Wilson writes in a simple, rather child like style, I truly believe it is because of that child like lens she projects through Opal Plumstead does it capture our hearts and make us forget the worries of modern twenty first century. The setting was magical and the relationships and characters were so perfectly crafted. Each of the main characters struck out; however while the story is told through Opal, I probably fell more in love with her sister Cassie and Morgan.
Cassie surprised me because I really thought Wilson would handle her character like she does in most books. The foolish, taunting and very beautiful sister to plain Opal. Cassie's big heart and spirited personality caught me by surprise. She wasn't scared to defy the standards society and her mother had barred around her; she dove head first into her own passion, despite sometimes being a little selfish. I honestly pegged her to be a cruel sister but she blew me away with her defiance, and in my defence was more of a feminist than some of the other characters.
Morgan, he was the perfect boy, almost too perfect but I'm not complaining. He truly was a reflection of Opal; their similar interests and views of the world were weaved together and their intellectual minds blew me away. He was perhaps the only character in this book who was depicted as completely flawless. I'm not sure if it's because we don't get to see him long enough, but his character, to me, was like a symbol of wholly goodness and light. He changed Opal's cynical views of love and he was the only person in Mrs Robert's life worth living for.
While the subject of war was only touched upon near the ending, Wilson carefully captured the war frenzy Britain, and through Opal, clearly expressed the lost and broken in War. The brutality of war is symbolic in it's tragic ending which I won't dwell on because I have spoiled too much already. But life carries on, and people move on despite me sobbing in the corner of my chair. There is still hope in the ending and I should probably shut up before I ruin even more.
I was proud that Wilson was able to tackle a subject like feminism in a child's book. She faulted the wrongs of many Women's rights stands but there were still doubt how crucial these women were in shaping history. While I obviously do not know Jacqueline Wilson personally, I have read her autobiographies and I must say I feel like Opal Plumstead's character is shaped quite similarly to Wilson herself. It has been a while since I read her autobiographies but still, I felt like bits of her own character definitely shone through Opal.
Overall, you probably could have picked up that this is one of the best books I've read this year. I'm glad I am ending 2014 with a book like Opal Plumstead. I don't believe in fate, just like Opal doesn't believe in ghost but for once I might try because this book has truly been a blessing to a conclusion.
July 14, 2019
Warning: Spoilers, and an angry rant peppered with profanities ahead.
Very rarely have I read a book that I hate so much as to wish for its pages to combust in my hands. Where I loathe most of its characters, and just looking at the cover makes me feel sick.
'Opal Plumstead' is one of, if not the worst children's book I have ever read. It is the most misogynistic book about the suffragettes I have ever read, and for a story aimed at young audiences, this is not only uncomprehendingly disrespectful, but dangerous. It doesn't drop the ball on feminism, it drops the nuke. Its messages are shit, its characters are shit, and its romance is such subterranean sewage-level shit that makes most YA couplings look believable. It's beyond offensive, and I'm at a loss as to why it has loads of positive reviews.
I hate 'Opal Plumstead' so much that I will never, ever read another book by Jacqueline Wilson. It really did not seem like she knew what she was doing with a novel containing this subject matter; like she was out of her depth, but not with historical fiction, since I've enjoyed her 'Hetty Feather' series. 'Opal' is where I draw the line, and declare myself done with this author for good. It is that bad.
Now to explain why. Abandon all hope ye who enter here:
Opal herself and Mrs Roberts - suffragette and the owner of the sweet factory where Opal ends up working in - are literally the only halfway decent female characters in the entire 520-page book. All of the other women and girls are either bitchy, mean, nasty, fat, ugly, old, stereotypically fundamentalist and conservative, greedy, flighty, shallow, stupid, or all of the above.
Fourteen-year-old Opal has a school friend at the beginning, Olivia, who we are clearly meant to think is fat, greedy and stupid with her sweets and talk of wanting babies and a husband one day; compared to the smart, thin and bespectacled Opal, who doesn't want to marry (yeah, that'll soon change, obviously, because females never mean what they say and they always change their minds, amirite? Fuck you, 'Opal Plumstead'). Then when Opal's family is in disgrace, Olivia's mother bans the two girls from meeting, and they really never ever see each other again. Olivia is officially out of the story.
So much for female friendships.
Opal's older sister Cassie is pretty, fashionable and flirty, and their mother rubs it in Opal's face constantly that Cassie is her favourite (oh, we'll get to the mother later). Cassie runs off with a much older man later on and has a baby with him (a boy, what else?), and everything about that development is fine in the end - Cassie's happy and rich and fulfilled. After running away with a married man more than twice her age and bringing further disgrace to the Plumsteads. Her mother placates because babies! What a great message to send to young girls reading this!
Opal's former schoolteacher, Miss Mountbank, is described as ugly, and is horrible to her always, despite her being a smart, well-behaved student. Mountbank thinks Opal is a showoff.
I swear, all females bar one or two hate our poor young heroine for no real reason and exist to make her life miserable every chance they get. All of the girls working at the sweet factory, Fairy Glen, treat Opal worse than bullies would - they hate her for no reason; they torture and shame her at every opportunity. The only workers at the factory who treat her like a human being are men.
The only people in 'Opal' who give the heroine any chance are men, aside from Mrs Roberts. All men are angels (even the sexual predators), and women are demons to be conquered. Make of that what you will. All girls live to gang up on the weak, after all (Cassie says something to this effect); all girls are shallow, predatory, evil bitches. Best to hang out with menfolk. Even men who sexually harass their female employees and patronize them all the time. These actual predators get off scot-free.
The internalized misogyny and condoning of powerful men's behaviour in 'Opal' is sickening to the core. And the suffragette movement is meant to be one of the main themes - whenever it bothers to even show up, that is. It's like an afterthought. I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Again I'll get more into that later.
Opal is stalked by an arsehole, Freddy, who also works at Fairy Glen. She forgives and excuses him for everything, of course, and the narrative doesn't challenge this. 'Opal' barely avoids a love triangle by letting that ship sail before Opal meets her main love-at-first-sight love interest, Mrs Robert's son, Morgan. Yes, the story is as trite and predictable as it sounds.
To go reluctantly back to Freddy, he can go straight to hell with all his male-entitlement issues, stalking, and nonstop declarations of love to Opal in front of people they know despite her continuously telling him to piss off. Freddy is as creepy as a John Hughes hero. He then gets over her and finds another young female victim to harass. They're still "friends", though, and Opal genuinely sees him as a good boy. A "sweet lad" (fucking gag me). Mother dearest, no surprise, likes Freddy immediately more than her own "plain" daughter upon meeting him unannounced at their doorstep. Another fantastic message to send to girls nowadays.
Oh, but I've avoided talking about this character for long enough: Opal's mother.
Before I begin, I'll say that before 'Opal', I gave Ms Wilson the benefit of the doubt and assumed that her bias against fat women is unconscious. In practically all of her books, the fat women and girls featured have either been stupid, greedy, disgusting, the butt of mean jokes, shy and pathetic even for her usual protagonists, typical mean bullies, irredeemable antagonists, or most of the above. Not a good look for a Children's Laureate, as if the girls reading her books won't be self-conscious and depressed enough.
But after 'Opal', the only explanation I can think of for its portrayal of females who aren't thin is that Ms Wilson truly hates them.
Case and point: Mrs Louisa Plumstead.
Mrs Plumstead is evil incarnate, plain and simple. Literally all she cares about is social status and looking good to her neighbours. A desperate delusion since she's as poor as dirt and so is her neighbourhood. She treats Opal like absolute shit and lavishes praise on her prettier, brainless socialite daughter Cassie. She only treats her husband with the barest minimum of humanity when he's making them money. She didn't work before her husband was arrested because she believes that no respectable woman should once she's married and has children. She calls suffragettes "man-hating harridans", and silly and hysterical. She insists that men know best. She forces fourteen-year-old Opal to give up her scholarship for further education to work in the sweet factory - to support the family, but Mummy Dearest never liked the idea of women having an education, so I'm sure this is more of her scheming.
Mother whines and moans constantly, determined that others, but especially Opal, are made to feel sorry for her. She guilt-trips and emotionally (and physically) abuses Opal whenever she pleases (she does hit Opal, saying she deserves it, and is never sorry in the slightest). All the while she makes everything about her and her woe-is-me pain. A pain and suffering which she in part was responsible for, as she was always pressuring her poor, loving husband to get his book published and earn them money, driving him to embezzlement, leading to his arrest and the resulting family disgrace. The book goes so far as to suggest, in Cassie's words, "He should have stood up to Mother more, been a little more manly. That's the way to please a woman" (page 251).
The subtext seems to be that fat, older women are hags who harass their poor male spouses and stifle their creativity (because women don't create, only destroy, amirite?), and are to blame whenever men get into any kind of trouble. Men are the real victims! And Opal favours and has only fond memories of her kind, doting father.
Your feminist suffragette book for kids, everybody!
Jacqueline Wilson's portrayal of mothers in her books has never been positive, to put it nicely. I can only think of a few who are even decent - 'The Butterfly Club', 'Bad Girls', 'Cliffhanger', and 'Hetty Feather' (but that mum dies in the sequel). But generally, her mothers have either been dead, runaways, absent, nags, irresponsible, childishly neglectful, criminally neglectful, unstable, or just selfish, or just controlling.
I mean, I understand: motherhood is a challenge weighing the atlas. It is one of the most difficult, physically, emotionally and mentally-draining, and disgracefully unappreciated jobs in the world, and not everyone is fit for it.
But bloody hell, can Jacqueline Wilson books go too far. Disturbingly so, when an abusive mother is not viewed as a villain, but as "Oh, that darn mum! That's just how she is. Never mind her."
Never has this been more apparent than with Mrs Plumstead. Nearly every sentence out of her mouth is an insult to Opal. Here are only a few of her wonderful lines towards her own daughter:
"You're telling me that Mrs Robert's son, the one who will inherit the factory, is interested in you?" - page 412
"Opal, you're making my head spin. You can be so aggravating at times. Why can't you be more like your sister?" - page 293
'"You're the most intolerably selfish girl. What sort of a daughter are you? If only Cassie could stay home on Saturday."
"Well, she doesn't make much effort to be here on Sundays, either, does she," I said.
"Yes, because she's out with her young man. I dare say that's why you're being so sulky, because your young man didn't come to anything."' - page 312
'"And where are you off to, missy? Mixing with those dreadful suffragettes again? You're going to get yourself into terrible trouble. All decent folk think those women want horse-whipping. The destruction they've caused! [...] [After Opal explains how they've been tortured and even killed] They bring it on themselves with their silly hysterics."
"They're hysterical on our behalf, Mother. They want better rights for women. Once we have the vote, then everything will change."
"I wouldn't vote if you paid me. Women have no business in the polling booths. We know nothing about politics or running the wretched country."' - page 356-357
'"Why must you always be so quick to make up your mind to condemn people?" I said, losing my temper. "You were the same with poor Father when he first got arrested."
"Hold your tongue," snapped Mother. "I won't have it! Oh dear Lord, what have I done to deserve a family like this? A husband who ends up in prison, a daughter who willfully throws herself on a married man, and another child who criticizes me endlessly and shows me no respect whatsoever."
She puts her hands to her head, clutching it desperately.' - page 391
If you haven't felt like wanting to kill Mrs Plumstead now, you're a better person than I am.
The nerve, the hypocrisy, the self-absorption, the self-delusion. The abuse is plain as day. Opal's own mother loathes her just for existing. What a hate-filled creature, and I don't care that women like her existed in the early 20th century (and still do, to my utter dismay).
But if you're still not convinced that this matriarch hates her plain bookworm daughter with a fiery, demonic passion, here is the following line, said after Opal's father is put in jail. This line is so awful that I actually had to put the book down for a while to recover my bearings:
'"You think yourself so superior, Opal Plumstead. Your very name's a total foolishness, just because your father said your eyes flashed blue and green like an opal. [...] If I'd had my way you'd have been plain Jane - and a plain Jane you are, with your pinched face and hair as straight as a poker. How you're so full of yourself when you look such a fright I don't know at all."
I was shaking from head to toe as she spoke the words. I knew that Mother had always found me difficult, but did she actually detest me?' - page 102-103
Yes, she does.
There's no other way of interpreting it. The author cannot seriously expect us to like or feel sorry for this banshee/Dementor after that, surely? For children's and YA lit, it's horrific and unreadable. Triggering, even.
Mrs Plumstead possesses no heart, and even for a typical strained mother-and-daughter relationship in a Jacqueline Wilson book, it's over the top - the top of the fucking pedestal of the limits of the universe.
And that's only part of the internalized misogyny in 'Opal Plumstead'. The portrayal of the suffragettes isn't much better.
For example, in chapter 25 Opal speaks at a suffragette meeting, criticising their efforts of using force and vandalism to get public attention. Like, why so violent and angry, yo? Instead of educating her and explaining that the suffragettes have been using peaceful, passive means to try to win the vote for over a hundred years, to no avail and progress, with the men in power willfully ignoring them at every turn, the women at the meeting merely glare and scold the naive fourteen-year-old. Not a good, respectful look for them. Even Mrs Roberts doesn't bother to help her out.
Speaking of, Mrs Roberts - we never learn of her first name, only her married surname - your feminist suffragettes book, everyone! - doesn't treat Opal like a person worthy of proper respect once the girl starts going out with her son, Morgan. She disapproves, because of the Plumsteads' disgrace. Opal is "not the right type of girl". Mrs Roberts still sticks to society's rules; which is hypocritical of her, when her entire goal in life is to change society and see to it that all women are treated with respect, regardless of class and background.
Which comes to nothing during WW1, when her son is killed and she shuts down Fairy Glen, too exhausted and grief-stricken to do anything anymore. Not another word is mentioned about the suffragette movement. It goes absolutely nowhere. It might as well not have been a feature in 'Opal'.
What utter horseshit.
So much for Mrs Roberts being Opal's sole female supporter and needed mother figure in the whole wretched book. She ends up being as antagonistic as everyone else who possesses a vagina ('Opal' is cis-normative, heteronormative, and whitewashed as fuck, too. That it's children's historical fiction is no excuse; it's abysmal rep, for a book about feminist history published in 2014).
Instead, the stupid story focuses on what's truly important: Opal's love life. Her relationship with Morgan, once she meets him in page 396, is so insta-lovey, so sappy, so twee, so treacly, so harlequin romance, so fairy tale rainbow shit, that I'd almost prefer reading more of Mrs Plumstead's daily barrage and abuse hurled at Opal. It's ridiculous, especially after Opal had spent the rest of the book vowing never to fall in love. We know what that means though, don't we?
Feminism!!!!
Literally on the day they meet, within a few minutes of knowing each other, Opal and Morgan walk together in his gardens, and she tells him everything about herself. She just met him.
When she says she's never having babies because she'll never marry, he says:
"I thought all girls wanted to get married and have children [...] Not that I really know any girls - just cousins, and sisters of chaps at school. They all seem like identical dolls, very pretty but rather terrifying, with blank china faces and staring glass eyes. But you're not like a doll at all, Opal. You're the most real girl I've ever met. We can talk properly, and you've got stuff to say too. You don't giggle or try to flirt." - page 406
Fuck my life.
Are you serious right now?
The above line sums up practically everything wrong with this so-called feminist book about the suffragettes. Let's see: In the space of a breath, the male love interest makes generalizations about girls and what they want (when he'd just admitted to not knowing many), compares them to indistinguishable blank dolls with no substance, slut shames them, refers to them as brainless, superficial bimbos without having to say those exact words, and to top it off, he goes all "You're not like other girls" on our leading female.
Oh she's read a book - BOOM! she's the one for him! And he's the son of the head of the local suffragette movement!
Remember: This was published in 2014.
Opal pours her heart out to this shithead, and when she laments that she's never been anyone's favourite (in case you couldn't tell by now, she's a Woobie of the highest order), he replies, "Well, you're my favourite girl,". THEY. JUST. MET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Morgan is about eighteen, as well, and Opal is still fourteen. He's rich and buys her crap. He takes her on expensive trips. When they've just met. See, young girls reading 'Opal Plumstead': that's what true love looks like!
And people give 'Twilight' a hard time.
I won't bother describing the sickeningly-sweet romancing of this pair any longer. I'll leave off by saying that the confused mess of the novel ends with Morgan going to war and dying - the narrative so desperately wants you to care, but I don't; if I cared any less I'd be in a coma - and Opal going to art school, where she makes a new male friend. Not any female friends, because fuck womenfolk.
Votes for women!
I'm done with 'Opal'. What a misguided, tone deaf, vulgar, infuriating, offensive, plot-less, structure-less, meandering, and shamefully misogynistic lump of garbage. 'Opal Plumstead' is proof that some books deserve to burn. It's worse than a bad book; it's an evil book. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, much less my worst enemy.
I never, EVER want to think about it again. Fuck this book. I'm out.
Final Score: 0/5
Very rarely have I read a book that I hate so much as to wish for its pages to combust in my hands. Where I loathe most of its characters, and just looking at the cover makes me feel sick.
'Opal Plumstead' is one of, if not the worst children's book I have ever read. It is the most misogynistic book about the suffragettes I have ever read, and for a story aimed at young audiences, this is not only uncomprehendingly disrespectful, but dangerous. It doesn't drop the ball on feminism, it drops the nuke. Its messages are shit, its characters are shit, and its romance is such subterranean sewage-level shit that makes most YA couplings look believable. It's beyond offensive, and I'm at a loss as to why it has loads of positive reviews.
I hate 'Opal Plumstead' so much that I will never, ever read another book by Jacqueline Wilson. It really did not seem like she knew what she was doing with a novel containing this subject matter; like she was out of her depth, but not with historical fiction, since I've enjoyed her 'Hetty Feather' series. 'Opal' is where I draw the line, and declare myself done with this author for good. It is that bad.
Now to explain why. Abandon all hope ye who enter here:
Opal herself and Mrs Roberts - suffragette and the owner of the sweet factory where Opal ends up working in - are literally the only halfway decent female characters in the entire 520-page book. All of the other women and girls are either bitchy, mean, nasty, fat, ugly, old, stereotypically fundamentalist and conservative, greedy, flighty, shallow, stupid, or all of the above.
Fourteen-year-old Opal has a school friend at the beginning, Olivia, who we are clearly meant to think is fat, greedy and stupid with her sweets and talk of wanting babies and a husband one day; compared to the smart, thin and bespectacled Opal, who doesn't want to marry (yeah, that'll soon change, obviously, because females never mean what they say and they always change their minds, amirite? Fuck you, 'Opal Plumstead'). Then when Opal's family is in disgrace, Olivia's mother bans the two girls from meeting, and they really never ever see each other again. Olivia is officially out of the story.
So much for female friendships.
Opal's older sister Cassie is pretty, fashionable and flirty, and their mother rubs it in Opal's face constantly that Cassie is her favourite (oh, we'll get to the mother later). Cassie runs off with a much older man later on and has a baby with him (a boy, what else?), and everything about that development is fine in the end - Cassie's happy and rich and fulfilled. After running away with a married man more than twice her age and bringing further disgrace to the Plumsteads. Her mother placates because babies! What a great message to send to young girls reading this!
Opal's former schoolteacher, Miss Mountbank, is described as ugly, and is horrible to her always, despite her being a smart, well-behaved student. Mountbank thinks Opal is a showoff.
I swear, all females bar one or two hate our poor young heroine for no real reason and exist to make her life miserable every chance they get. All of the girls working at the sweet factory, Fairy Glen, treat Opal worse than bullies would - they hate her for no reason; they torture and shame her at every opportunity. The only workers at the factory who treat her like a human being are men.
The only people in 'Opal' who give the heroine any chance are men, aside from Mrs Roberts. All men are angels (even the sexual predators), and women are demons to be conquered. Make of that what you will. All girls live to gang up on the weak, after all (Cassie says something to this effect); all girls are shallow, predatory, evil bitches. Best to hang out with menfolk. Even men who sexually harass their female employees and patronize them all the time. These actual predators get off scot-free.
The internalized misogyny and condoning of powerful men's behaviour in 'Opal' is sickening to the core. And the suffragette movement is meant to be one of the main themes - whenever it bothers to even show up, that is. It's like an afterthought. I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Again I'll get more into that later.
Opal is stalked by an arsehole, Freddy, who also works at Fairy Glen. She forgives and excuses him for everything, of course, and the narrative doesn't challenge this. 'Opal' barely avoids a love triangle by letting that ship sail before Opal meets her main love-at-first-sight love interest, Mrs Robert's son, Morgan. Yes, the story is as trite and predictable as it sounds.
To go reluctantly back to Freddy, he can go straight to hell with all his male-entitlement issues, stalking, and nonstop declarations of love to Opal in front of people they know despite her continuously telling him to piss off. Freddy is as creepy as a John Hughes hero. He then gets over her and finds another young female victim to harass. They're still "friends", though, and Opal genuinely sees him as a good boy. A "sweet lad" (fucking gag me). Mother dearest, no surprise, likes Freddy immediately more than her own "plain" daughter upon meeting him unannounced at their doorstep. Another fantastic message to send to girls nowadays.
Oh, but I've avoided talking about this character for long enough: Opal's mother.
Before I begin, I'll say that before 'Opal', I gave Ms Wilson the benefit of the doubt and assumed that her bias against fat women is unconscious. In practically all of her books, the fat women and girls featured have either been stupid, greedy, disgusting, the butt of mean jokes, shy and pathetic even for her usual protagonists, typical mean bullies, irredeemable antagonists, or most of the above. Not a good look for a Children's Laureate, as if the girls reading her books won't be self-conscious and depressed enough.
But after 'Opal', the only explanation I can think of for its portrayal of females who aren't thin is that Ms Wilson truly hates them.
Case and point: Mrs Louisa Plumstead.
Mrs Plumstead is evil incarnate, plain and simple. Literally all she cares about is social status and looking good to her neighbours. A desperate delusion since she's as poor as dirt and so is her neighbourhood. She treats Opal like absolute shit and lavishes praise on her prettier, brainless socialite daughter Cassie. She only treats her husband with the barest minimum of humanity when he's making them money. She didn't work before her husband was arrested because she believes that no respectable woman should once she's married and has children. She calls suffragettes "man-hating harridans", and silly and hysterical. She insists that men know best. She forces fourteen-year-old Opal to give up her scholarship for further education to work in the sweet factory - to support the family, but Mummy Dearest never liked the idea of women having an education, so I'm sure this is more of her scheming.
Mother whines and moans constantly, determined that others, but especially Opal, are made to feel sorry for her. She guilt-trips and emotionally (and physically) abuses Opal whenever she pleases (she does hit Opal, saying she deserves it, and is never sorry in the slightest). All the while she makes everything about her and her woe-is-me pain. A pain and suffering which she in part was responsible for, as she was always pressuring her poor, loving husband to get his book published and earn them money, driving him to embezzlement, leading to his arrest and the resulting family disgrace. The book goes so far as to suggest, in Cassie's words, "He should have stood up to Mother more, been a little more manly. That's the way to please a woman" (page 251).
The subtext seems to be that fat, older women are hags who harass their poor male spouses and stifle their creativity (because women don't create, only destroy, amirite?), and are to blame whenever men get into any kind of trouble. Men are the real victims! And Opal favours and has only fond memories of her kind, doting father.
Your feminist suffragette book for kids, everybody!
Jacqueline Wilson's portrayal of mothers in her books has never been positive, to put it nicely. I can only think of a few who are even decent - 'The Butterfly Club', 'Bad Girls', 'Cliffhanger', and 'Hetty Feather' (
I mean, I understand: motherhood is a challenge weighing the atlas. It is one of the most difficult, physically, emotionally and mentally-draining, and disgracefully unappreciated jobs in the world, and not everyone is fit for it.
But bloody hell, can Jacqueline Wilson books go too far. Disturbingly so, when an abusive mother is not viewed as a villain, but as "Oh, that darn mum! That's just how she is. Never mind her."
Never has this been more apparent than with Mrs Plumstead. Nearly every sentence out of her mouth is an insult to Opal. Here are only a few of her wonderful lines towards her own daughter:
"You're telling me that Mrs Robert's son, the one who will inherit the factory, is interested in you?" - page 412
"Opal, you're making my head spin. You can be so aggravating at times. Why can't you be more like your sister?" - page 293
'"You're the most intolerably selfish girl. What sort of a daughter are you? If only Cassie could stay home on Saturday."
"Well, she doesn't make much effort to be here on Sundays, either, does she," I said.
"Yes, because she's out with her young man. I dare say that's why you're being so sulky, because your young man didn't come to anything."' - page 312
'"And where are you off to, missy? Mixing with those dreadful suffragettes again? You're going to get yourself into terrible trouble. All decent folk think those women want horse-whipping. The destruction they've caused! [...] [After Opal explains how they've been tortured and even killed] They bring it on themselves with their silly hysterics."
"They're hysterical on our behalf, Mother. They want better rights for women. Once we have the vote, then everything will change."
"I wouldn't vote if you paid me. Women have no business in the polling booths. We know nothing about politics or running the wretched country."' - page 356-357
'"Why must you always be so quick to make up your mind to condemn people?" I said, losing my temper. "You were the same with poor Father when he first got arrested."
"Hold your tongue," snapped Mother. "I won't have it! Oh dear Lord, what have I done to deserve a family like this? A husband who ends up in prison, a daughter who willfully throws herself on a married man, and another child who criticizes me endlessly and shows me no respect whatsoever."
She puts her hands to her head, clutching it desperately.' - page 391
If you haven't felt like wanting to kill Mrs Plumstead now, you're a better person than I am.
The nerve, the hypocrisy, the self-absorption, the self-delusion. The abuse is plain as day. Opal's own mother loathes her just for existing. What a hate-filled creature, and I don't care that women like her existed in the early 20th century (and still do, to my utter dismay).
But if you're still not convinced that this matriarch hates her plain bookworm daughter with a fiery, demonic passion, here is the following line, said after Opal's father is put in jail. This line is so awful that I actually had to put the book down for a while to recover my bearings:
'"You think yourself so superior, Opal Plumstead. Your very name's a total foolishness, just because your father said your eyes flashed blue and green like an opal. [...] If I'd had my way you'd have been plain Jane - and a plain Jane you are, with your pinched face and hair as straight as a poker. How you're so full of yourself when you look such a fright I don't know at all."
I was shaking from head to toe as she spoke the words. I knew that Mother had always found me difficult, but did she actually detest me?' - page 102-103
Yes, she does.
There's no other way of interpreting it. The author cannot seriously expect us to like or feel sorry for this banshee/Dementor after that, surely? For children's and YA lit, it's horrific and unreadable. Triggering, even.
Mrs Plumstead possesses no heart, and even for a typical strained mother-and-daughter relationship in a Jacqueline Wilson book, it's over the top - the top of the fucking pedestal of the limits of the universe.
And that's only part of the internalized misogyny in 'Opal Plumstead'. The portrayal of the suffragettes isn't much better.
For example, in chapter 25 Opal speaks at a suffragette meeting, criticising their efforts of using force and vandalism to get public attention. Like, why so violent and angry, yo? Instead of educating her and explaining that the suffragettes have been using peaceful, passive means to try to win the vote for over a hundred years, to no avail and progress, with the men in power willfully ignoring them at every turn, the women at the meeting merely glare and scold the naive fourteen-year-old. Not a good, respectful look for them. Even Mrs Roberts doesn't bother to help her out.
Speaking of, Mrs Roberts - we never learn of her first name, only her married surname - your feminist suffragettes book, everyone! - doesn't treat Opal like a person worthy of proper respect once the girl starts going out with her son, Morgan. She disapproves, because of the Plumsteads' disgrace. Opal is "not the right type of girl". Mrs Roberts still sticks to society's rules; which is hypocritical of her, when her entire goal in life is to change society and see to it that all women are treated with respect, regardless of class and background.
Which comes to nothing during WW1, when her son is killed and she shuts down Fairy Glen, too exhausted and grief-stricken to do anything anymore. Not another word is mentioned about the suffragette movement. It goes absolutely nowhere. It might as well not have been a feature in 'Opal'.
What utter horseshit.
So much for Mrs Roberts being Opal's sole female supporter and needed mother figure in the whole wretched book. She ends up being as antagonistic as everyone else who possesses a vagina ('Opal' is cis-normative, heteronormative, and whitewashed as fuck, too. That it's children's historical fiction is no excuse; it's abysmal rep, for a book about feminist history published in 2014).
Instead, the stupid story focuses on what's truly important: Opal's love life. Her relationship with Morgan, once she meets him in page 396, is so insta-lovey, so sappy, so twee, so treacly, so harlequin romance, so fairy tale rainbow shit, that I'd almost prefer reading more of Mrs Plumstead's daily barrage and abuse hurled at Opal. It's ridiculous, especially after Opal had spent the rest of the book vowing never to fall in love. We know what that means though, don't we?
Feminism!!!!
Literally on the day they meet, within a few minutes of knowing each other, Opal and Morgan walk together in his gardens, and she tells him everything about herself. She just met him.
When she says she's never having babies because she'll never marry, he says:
"I thought all girls wanted to get married and have children [...] Not that I really know any girls - just cousins, and sisters of chaps at school. They all seem like identical dolls, very pretty but rather terrifying, with blank china faces and staring glass eyes. But you're not like a doll at all, Opal. You're the most real girl I've ever met. We can talk properly, and you've got stuff to say too. You don't giggle or try to flirt." - page 406
Fuck my life.
Are you serious right now?
The above line sums up practically everything wrong with this so-called feminist book about the suffragettes. Let's see: In the space of a breath, the male love interest makes generalizations about girls and what they want (when he'd just admitted to not knowing many), compares them to indistinguishable blank dolls with no substance, slut shames them, refers to them as brainless, superficial bimbos without having to say those exact words, and to top it off, he goes all "You're not like other girls" on our leading female.
Oh she's read a book - BOOM! she's the one for him! And he's the son of the head of the local suffragette movement!
Remember: This was published in 2014.
Opal pours her heart out to this shithead, and when she laments that she's never been anyone's favourite (in case you couldn't tell by now, she's a Woobie of the highest order), he replies, "Well, you're my favourite girl,". THEY. JUST. MET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Morgan is about eighteen, as well, and Opal is still fourteen. He's rich and buys her crap. He takes her on expensive trips. When they've just met. See, young girls reading 'Opal Plumstead': that's what true love looks like!
And people give 'Twilight' a hard time.
I won't bother describing the sickeningly-sweet romancing of this pair any longer. I'll leave off by saying that the confused mess of the novel ends with Morgan going to war and dying - the narrative so desperately wants you to care, but I don't; if I cared any less I'd be in a coma - and Opal going to art school, where she makes a new male friend. Not any female friends, because fuck womenfolk.
Votes for women!
I'm done with 'Opal'. What a misguided, tone deaf, vulgar, infuriating, offensive, plot-less, structure-less, meandering, and shamefully misogynistic lump of garbage. 'Opal Plumstead' is proof that some books deserve to burn. It's worse than a bad book; it's an evil book. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, much less my worst enemy.
I never, EVER want to think about it again. Fuck this book. I'm out.
Final Score: 0/5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 4, 2017
I feel like the suffragettes badge on the cover is a bit of a miss-sell, because Opal never felt like a suffragette to me. She went to a couple of meetings, but she spoke against what they were doing. Her arguments were rational, of course, but I didn't realise when I started reading that I'd get a critique on the movement rather than feel empowered by it.
That's the only qualm I have with this book though. I'd been excited to read it for AGES and it was delightful. JW more recently releases have a much slower build than her shorter stories. I feel like they don't necessarily build to anything, and more often than not, they're pretty tragic. Still, the writing is gorgeously easy to read and I was sucked into Opal's story from the very beginning!
That's the only qualm I have with this book though. I'd been excited to read it for AGES and it was delightful. JW more recently releases have a much slower build than her shorter stories. I feel like they don't necessarily build to anything, and more often than not, they're pretty tragic. Still, the writing is gorgeously easy to read and I was sucked into Opal's story from the very beginning!
January 11, 2015
when the page at the end says don't turn over. Don't.
June 4, 2017
Jacqueline Wilson's historical novels feel so authentic to her brand and so approaching for readers of all ages. I think she's really found a comfort zone, and I'm beyond pleased with the idea of her writing more from this decade!
Opal Plumstead was just a pure joy to read, despite all the ups and downs in Opal's life. There's sweetness, literally, with the sweet factory, and ambition with the suffragette movement. There's romance that was so quaint - although Opal was reading very ace in the first half of the book, so I was pumped, but c'est la vie. I just wish that there had been way more of a focus on the suffragettes. They only really played a background role, so the pacing could have been better handled to get Opal to that point sooner.
Also, I was just waiting for Cassie's storyline to take a nosedive and was /very/ surprised that it was all coming up roses for her in comparison to Opal. It was a novel that I could never predict what happened next, and I felt the same way in Clover Moon, so these books are less about a plot building to something and rather about meandering around life events.
Really excited to pick up my next JW book because it's unlike any other reading experience!
Opal Plumstead was just a pure joy to read, despite all the ups and downs in Opal's life. There's sweetness, literally, with the sweet factory, and ambition with the suffragette movement. There's romance that was so quaint - although Opal was reading very ace in the first half of the book, so I was pumped, but c'est la vie. I just wish that there had been way more of a focus on the suffragettes. They only really played a background role, so the pacing could have been better handled to get Opal to that point sooner.
Also, I was just waiting for Cassie's storyline to take a nosedive and was /very/ surprised that it was all coming up roses for her in comparison to Opal. It was a novel that I could never predict what happened next, and I felt the same way in Clover Moon, so these books are less about a plot building to something and rather about meandering around life events.
Really excited to pick up my next JW book because it's unlike any other reading experience!
January 2, 2015
I've have just finished this and I am crying. Tears rolling down my cheeks crying.
Hands down, this is the best Jacqueline Wilson book that I have ever read (and I have read pretty much all of her books!)
Opal Plumstead follows the life of 14 year old Opal. Her father is arrested meaning that she has to take up work at the Fairy Glen sweet factory.
When I read the blurb, I wasn't exactly excited. My mum has continued to buy me Wilson's novels (on my request) even though I am possibly too old for them now, but this book I feel was definitely for an older audience, I feel anyway.
The book started off quite normally, but at the end of the book, I felt like I knew Opal and had been living with her and walking alongside her and I can't really convey how good this book was.
I'm currently crying harder than when I read tfios (not when I watched the movie though!).
A definite must read for any Wilson fan or just any younger person looking for a good book!!
Hands down, this is the best Jacqueline Wilson book that I have ever read (and I have read pretty much all of her books!)
Opal Plumstead follows the life of 14 year old Opal. Her father is arrested meaning that she has to take up work at the Fairy Glen sweet factory.
When I read the blurb, I wasn't exactly excited. My mum has continued to buy me Wilson's novels (on my request) even though I am possibly too old for them now, but this book I feel was definitely for an older audience, I feel anyway.
The book started off quite normally, but at the end of the book, I felt like I knew Opal and had been living with her and walking alongside her and I can't really convey how good this book was.
I'm currently crying harder than when I read tfios (not when I watched the movie though!).
A definite must read for any Wilson fan or just any younger person looking for a good book!!
August 9, 2016
As a nearly 16 year old, quite settled in the world of adult literature, I decided a while ago that Jacqueline Wilson is definitely below my standard. Unfortunately, some people don't realise this, and get me her books anyway. I don't read them, but the covers are pretty, so at least they look good on the shelf, which is where they live, gathering dust. But this book, 'Opal Plumstead' has been intriguing me for a while, particularly as it has been deemed 'for teen readers', so I decided to give it a go.
It's 1913, and Opal Plumstead is living a modest life in a small house with her mother, father, and dazzling older sister, Cassie. She prides herself on her intelligence, and is a scholarship pupil at St Mary's School for Girls. But Opal's life turns sour when her beloved father is sent to prison for what she believes to be a gross misunderstanding.
Suddenly, Opal is forced to give up school and work at The Fairy Glen sweet factory, where the hours are long, and the other workers are cruel. Opal has to give up her dreams and her family is falling apart, but she finds hope in the newly-established Suffragette movement, and her beautiful, powerful employer, Mrs Roberts. She also finds true love, something she thought didn't exist outside of storybooks, in Morgan Roberts: Charming, handsome and sole heir to Fairy Glen. But war is looming and the tragedies it will bring will once more change Opal's life forever.
I am going to begin with a blunt statement. I did not like this book. AT ALL.
Who is Jacqueline Wilson? An esteemed children's author who writes sad stories about poor, unprivileged youths. And when Jacqueline Wilson attempts to write a historical novel for teens...well, it was just never meant to be, as demonstrated by 'Opal Plumstead'.
My favourite character was Cassie, because she was at least interesting and had depth. And, although she was self-centred, she was clearly intended to be that way, so the character portrayal there was accurate, which was a rarity in this story. Cassie, and her supposedly 'sinful' relationship with Mr Evandale, was the one, tiny redeeming factor of this book.
So now, for everything I disliked about this novel.
Firstly, Opal herself. Not only did I dislike her, I actually LOATHED her as a protagonist. She was dull, repetitive, and constantly moaning about her life, and her family and basically, everything under the sun that she could find to complain about. Also, she was so self-obsessed and pompous- Going on and one about her own superior intelligence, and how oh-so clever she is, and how it is soooooo unfair that she had to be pulled out of education when she had such a bright future ahead of her (although, for all her bragging about her extraordinary intellect, she clearly had no idea about how the judicial system works. So, without giving anything away, her father gets convicted of a crime he is actually guilty of, and Opal insists that his arrest is unfair, because he only did what he did to 'make the family happy', and therefore, his actions are completely justified and he should be let off *buries head in hands in despair*). And, she used a multitude of long, out-of-context words, which, let's face it, Jacqueline Wilson probably just got out of a thesaurus.
Certain characters (like Mrs Roberts and Morgan) seemed to love Opal for no apparent reason, and those people who had the sense to dislike her, were internally questioned by Opal, as to how folks could possibly hate such a sweet, clever girl such as herself. I could go on all day about how I detest Opal (not least because she reminds me of many people that I know in real life) but I'm not going to. All I'll say is that if she was intended to be a stuck-up snob, it might have worked. But she wasn't. Wilson clearly meant for her to be a likeable, admired heroine, and she just doesn't fulfil that role.
Reading this book felt like Deja vu. It was exceedingly similar to the 'Hetty Feather' series, but in a different time period, with a heroine who was far less likeable. It's clear that Jacqueline Wilson is running out of ideas. The tone was the same, and parts of the story were almost identical.
There was also an element of 'My Sister Jodie' thrown in there as well, in the relationship between Opal and Cassie.
And don't think we missed the sneaky 'Double Act' reference either ("He calls me Oh-Pal, instead of Opal, like I was his pal").
Usually, I find Jacqueline Wilson's books easy and quick to read. But this was so tedious. It was like her publisher said, 'Quick! I have 500 pages for you to fill! It doesn't matter what rubbish you write down, just go!'
It was so boring and repetitive, and yet it had lots of themes (like family, and Opal's work, and the whole Morgan romance, and the Suffragette movement) as any book should.
But, instead of them being all evenly distributed throughout the book, it was as if Wilson thought to herself, 'Hmmm. Right, first quarter, we'll write about this, and then the second quarter, we'll move onto this, and then...', etc, etc. Like it was all divided. This especially impacted the whole 'Morgan and Opal' romance, which I didn't get into at all, since he was only introduced to us on page 397 of a book that is 520 pages long. Opal goes on about how she loves Morgan with a passion, and she can never love anyone else, and how they will get married and live happily ever after. Even in 1913, a relationship didn't progress that far after two dates.
So yes, I was disappointed. I really detested this book. It is five hours of my life that I will never get back.
I'd rate this book...
2 stars out of 10
'Don't turn the page. Believe in happy endings.'- Opal Plumstead
It's 1913, and Opal Plumstead is living a modest life in a small house with her mother, father, and dazzling older sister, Cassie. She prides herself on her intelligence, and is a scholarship pupil at St Mary's School for Girls. But Opal's life turns sour when her beloved father is sent to prison for what she believes to be a gross misunderstanding.
Suddenly, Opal is forced to give up school and work at The Fairy Glen sweet factory, where the hours are long, and the other workers are cruel. Opal has to give up her dreams and her family is falling apart, but she finds hope in the newly-established Suffragette movement, and her beautiful, powerful employer, Mrs Roberts. She also finds true love, something she thought didn't exist outside of storybooks, in Morgan Roberts: Charming, handsome and sole heir to Fairy Glen. But war is looming and the tragedies it will bring will once more change Opal's life forever.
I am going to begin with a blunt statement. I did not like this book. AT ALL.
Who is Jacqueline Wilson? An esteemed children's author who writes sad stories about poor, unprivileged youths. And when Jacqueline Wilson attempts to write a historical novel for teens...well, it was just never meant to be, as demonstrated by 'Opal Plumstead'.
My favourite character was Cassie, because she was at least interesting and had depth. And, although she was self-centred, she was clearly intended to be that way, so the character portrayal there was accurate, which was a rarity in this story. Cassie, and her supposedly 'sinful' relationship with Mr Evandale, was the one, tiny redeeming factor of this book.
So now, for everything I disliked about this novel.
Firstly, Opal herself. Not only did I dislike her, I actually LOATHED her as a protagonist. She was dull, repetitive, and constantly moaning about her life, and her family and basically, everything under the sun that she could find to complain about. Also, she was so self-obsessed and pompous- Going on and one about her own superior intelligence, and how oh-so clever she is, and how it is soooooo unfair that she had to be pulled out of education when she had such a bright future ahead of her (although, for all her bragging about her extraordinary intellect, she clearly had no idea about how the judicial system works. So, without giving anything away, her father gets convicted of a crime he is actually guilty of, and Opal insists that his arrest is unfair, because he only did what he did to 'make the family happy', and therefore, his actions are completely justified and he should be let off *buries head in hands in despair*). And, she used a multitude of long, out-of-context words, which, let's face it, Jacqueline Wilson probably just got out of a thesaurus.
Certain characters (like Mrs Roberts and Morgan) seemed to love Opal for no apparent reason, and those people who had the sense to dislike her, were internally questioned by Opal, as to how folks could possibly hate such a sweet, clever girl such as herself. I could go on all day about how I detest Opal (not least because she reminds me of many people that I know in real life) but I'm not going to. All I'll say is that if she was intended to be a stuck-up snob, it might have worked. But she wasn't. Wilson clearly meant for her to be a likeable, admired heroine, and she just doesn't fulfil that role.
Reading this book felt like Deja vu. It was exceedingly similar to the 'Hetty Feather' series, but in a different time period, with a heroine who was far less likeable. It's clear that Jacqueline Wilson is running out of ideas. The tone was the same, and parts of the story were almost identical.
There was also an element of 'My Sister Jodie' thrown in there as well, in the relationship between Opal and Cassie.
And don't think we missed the sneaky 'Double Act' reference either ("He calls me Oh-Pal, instead of Opal, like I was his pal").
Usually, I find Jacqueline Wilson's books easy and quick to read. But this was so tedious. It was like her publisher said, 'Quick! I have 500 pages for you to fill! It doesn't matter what rubbish you write down, just go!'
It was so boring and repetitive, and yet it had lots of themes (like family, and Opal's work, and the whole Morgan romance, and the Suffragette movement) as any book should.
But, instead of them being all evenly distributed throughout the book, it was as if Wilson thought to herself, 'Hmmm. Right, first quarter, we'll write about this, and then the second quarter, we'll move onto this, and then...', etc, etc. Like it was all divided. This especially impacted the whole 'Morgan and Opal' romance, which I didn't get into at all, since he was only introduced to us on page 397 of a book that is 520 pages long. Opal goes on about how she loves Morgan with a passion, and she can never love anyone else, and how they will get married and live happily ever after. Even in 1913, a relationship didn't progress that far after two dates.
So yes, I was disappointed. I really detested this book. It is five hours of my life that I will never get back.
I'd rate this book...
2 stars out of 10
'Don't turn the page. Believe in happy endings.'- Opal Plumstead
March 5, 2015
Oh my gosh, how horrific this ending was. I feel as though I will never quite get over it. The last time I cried reading a book was ten years ago but this one made me cry so, so much. I so desperately wanted this to end well for dear Opal and Mrs Roberts — and her poor, poor father. I can hardly stand it! I am thoroughly miserable after finishing it but that is often the way with good books. It really is another truly brilliant book by Jacqueline Wilson. What an extraordinary author she is.
I do wonder how a child would cope with this book though. I devoured each and every one of Wilson's books as a child and still read them all as they come out. I credit Wilson for giving me an understanding and empathy for things that are often not explained to children— mental illness, abusive relationships etc. I always feel cross to hear of parents complaining about the contents of her books being unsuitable for children but I did find Opal Plumstead so incredibly heavy which I feel may be upsetting for some younger readers.
I do wonder how a child would cope with this book though. I devoured each and every one of Wilson's books as a child and still read them all as they come out. I credit Wilson for giving me an understanding and empathy for things that are often not explained to children— mental illness, abusive relationships etc. I always feel cross to hear of parents complaining about the contents of her books being unsuitable for children but I did find Opal Plumstead so incredibly heavy which I feel may be upsetting for some younger readers.
October 20, 2025
Jaqueline Wilson has done it again. One of my all time favourite books by this author(along side the Hetty feather books).it was a joy to read and i hope she writes more books like this in the future.
December 27, 2014
I had forgotten how brilliant Jacqueline Wilson is as an author! Brilliant book, quite emotional, couldn't put it down!
April 11, 2015
I love this book. The suffragettes are, and always have been my favourite era. The ending is tragic and I cried and sobbed nearly throughout the entire book. It's so sad. Love it! I loved reading about how Opal moves up in life and over comes small and big obstacles. To sum up how I feel about the characters in one sentence, I love Mrs. Roberts, I dislike Olivia, I miss Morgan, I feel sorry for the dad, I disagree with the mum and I think Cassie makes bad choices. This is a must read.
March 30, 2021
This is my second time reading Opal Plumstead and once again, it is evident that Jaqueline Wilson is a very competent author. She fleshes out details and backstories, which effectively creates a world where the characters come to life. I have loved her novels since I was young and this one is certainly no exception.
July 16, 2023
It was very well written, though I don't know how I feel about the ending. Sure, it was more realistic, but this is a STORY! But it's still very good.
August 27, 2023
I first read Opal Plumstead when I was 9 years old. I remember buying it at Diwan, an Egyptian bookstore that resided on the far right of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina plaza, where my mother worked. It was directly after the revolution, a time period that had me hiding away in books for lack of a better escape.
But Opal Plumstead refused to let me go.
What I had initially purchased purely because it was written by my, at the time, favourite author (and, for full transparency, because it's bound in purple), grew to be one of the pillars on which the very core of who I am stands on today.
I wish I could sit here and tell you I only realised this years later while staring out into some meadow and contemplating my existence, but I was pretty insightful for a child. Caught mid-flick-through, a diary entry held lovingly between the two ends of the fluffy purple journal that continues to hold my deepest darkest secrets (up to the ripe age of 12), Opal Plumstead was my "favourite book beyond any other and the one book I will never ever lend to anybody".
Sitting here at 3:53 AM on an early Sunday morning (which I hope excuses my messy writing), wilfully ignoring the fact that I have work very early tomorrow, I can confidently agree with what my 9-year-old self declared in glitter pen.
I picked up Opal Plumstead again only a few hours ago for research as much as I did for comfort. About a week ago, I started reading Khul-Khaal by Naira Atiya, a rich exploration into the lives of Egyptian women and, by extension, a feminist must-read. Flipping through pages of sociological ponderings, I couldn't help my mind from wandering back to the sweet embrace of Plumstead and the early seeds of my feminist views.
Is there a greater lesson here? One that bridges the suffering of Western women with the pain their Middle Eastern/Arab counterparts continue to bear today? The answer is not in this measly Goodreads review. All I know is that, as long as I live, I will breathe the same cause the fictional suffragettes Plumstead marched amidst preached as it is, in the humble view of a Middle Eastern girl who grew up in the (sometimes, if you're lucky and I was) nurturing embrace of Western feminism, the same one we Arab women write for.
I understand that this will not necessarily extend past my experience. Regardless, Wilson's work is necessary in every young girl's library. Her name on beat-up copies at used book fairs will always calm my heart. "You are the fighters of our futures."
Why I wrote this I have no idea. I hope my editor doesn't see it. I will be hanged for my run-on sentences. But some things needed to be said for the lightness of my heart if nothing else.
Good night.
But Opal Plumstead refused to let me go.
What I had initially purchased purely because it was written by my, at the time, favourite author (and, for full transparency, because it's bound in purple), grew to be one of the pillars on which the very core of who I am stands on today.
I wish I could sit here and tell you I only realised this years later while staring out into some meadow and contemplating my existence, but I was pretty insightful for a child. Caught mid-flick-through, a diary entry held lovingly between the two ends of the fluffy purple journal that continues to hold my deepest darkest secrets (up to the ripe age of 12), Opal Plumstead was my "favourite book beyond any other and the one book I will never ever lend to anybody".
Sitting here at 3:53 AM on an early Sunday morning (which I hope excuses my messy writing), wilfully ignoring the fact that I have work very early tomorrow, I can confidently agree with what my 9-year-old self declared in glitter pen.
I picked up Opal Plumstead again only a few hours ago for research as much as I did for comfort. About a week ago, I started reading Khul-Khaal by Naira Atiya, a rich exploration into the lives of Egyptian women and, by extension, a feminist must-read. Flipping through pages of sociological ponderings, I couldn't help my mind from wandering back to the sweet embrace of Plumstead and the early seeds of my feminist views.
Is there a greater lesson here? One that bridges the suffering of Western women with the pain their Middle Eastern/Arab counterparts continue to bear today? The answer is not in this measly Goodreads review. All I know is that, as long as I live, I will breathe the same cause the fictional suffragettes Plumstead marched amidst preached as it is, in the humble view of a Middle Eastern girl who grew up in the (sometimes, if you're lucky and I was) nurturing embrace of Western feminism, the same one we Arab women write for.
I understand that this will not necessarily extend past my experience. Regardless, Wilson's work is necessary in every young girl's library. Her name on beat-up copies at used book fairs will always calm my heart. "You are the fighters of our futures."
Why I wrote this I have no idea. I hope my editor doesn't see it. I will be hanged for my run-on sentences. But some things needed to be said for the lightness of my heart if nothing else.
Good night.
August 2, 2017
OPAL PLUMSTEAD
Written by Jacqueline Wilson and illustrated by Nick Sharrat.
Penguin Books Australia
Jacqueline Wilson has sold over 40 million books in the U.K alone.
She has written over 130 books, and every few months a new book seems to be published. Jacqueline is British and mainly writes books for teenagers and under.
The “memoirs” of Opal Plumstead really bought me back in time
to the time of the suffragettes and the beginning of World War 2. This story is of course, written in First Person. Opal tells the story of her life, starting at the age of 14 years old.
There are three genres this book would fit under; Young Adult, Historical and Romance.
One of the main reasons I loved this book is because every one of the 528 pages were so enthralling I couldn’t put the book down.
I have now read this 2 times, when I want to read something I know I love, I head for Opal Plumstead on the book shelf.
The story starts with Opal and her best friend Olivia walking through a graveyard. They have a habit of spending Olivia’s pocket money on the way home from school on sweets from the Fairy Glen Factory. Little does Opal know that later one she will be working at that Factory. This is how the Opal Plumstead sweets were invented.
They discuss all these different kinds of topics; Olivia often brings up about her future husband. Opal always declares;
“I shall never marry a man, I am an independent woman.”
Opal’s mother and beautiful sister Cassie, strongly disagree with this. Opal’s mother (Lou) tells Cassie;
“Now Cassandra, don’t go throwing yourself at any man that makes eyes at you, go for the wealthy ones.”
Cassie is beautiful, every man that meets her is drawn to her, and Cassie cannot help but make eyes at him.
Ernest Plumstead (Opal’s father) is a graduate from Oxford University. Opal admires this and competed for a scholarship to go to St Margaret’s. Ernest however, does not tell Opal why he did not follow his dreams and went to teach. After a while, Ernest gained a respectful-enough office job.
Ernest always looks drained and colour-less, like the life has been sucked out of him. When he comes home from work, he goes to his room and lies there until dinner time. Opal is always very worried him, for he is the only one in her family that really loves her.
Ernest’s real passion is to write, he always is writing manuscripts and sending them to the publishers, none of them ever get accepted.
Finally, one day, the publishers asked for a few changes in one of Ernest’s books. Ernest gets very excited, when Lou finds out, she says his story will be accepted once he makes the changes, she also states;
“We will be wealthy!”
So everyone but Opal starts spending money, Opal knows something is up.
Will Ernest’s story be accepted or not? If he does, will their life be better? Or if it does not, will everything change for ever?
For me, this book was a major page-turner. I could not stop reading! Even the second time!
Comparing this book to other “memoirs” this one had to the most detail. Like “Katy” written by Jacqueline Wilson. It was more brief in that story, whereas in this book the descriptive language painted a movie in my head the whole time, there were no parts where it got boring.
The ending really surprised me. It was very unexpected.
I would recommend this book to mature kid readers and teenagers in general.
This book is definitely is my Top #10. Of course, I have to rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.
I could read it again in a heart beat.
Written by Jacqueline Wilson and illustrated by Nick Sharrat.
Penguin Books Australia
Jacqueline Wilson has sold over 40 million books in the U.K alone.
She has written over 130 books, and every few months a new book seems to be published. Jacqueline is British and mainly writes books for teenagers and under.
The “memoirs” of Opal Plumstead really bought me back in time
to the time of the suffragettes and the beginning of World War 2. This story is of course, written in First Person. Opal tells the story of her life, starting at the age of 14 years old.
There are three genres this book would fit under; Young Adult, Historical and Romance.
One of the main reasons I loved this book is because every one of the 528 pages were so enthralling I couldn’t put the book down.
I have now read this 2 times, when I want to read something I know I love, I head for Opal Plumstead on the book shelf.
The story starts with Opal and her best friend Olivia walking through a graveyard. They have a habit of spending Olivia’s pocket money on the way home from school on sweets from the Fairy Glen Factory. Little does Opal know that later one she will be working at that Factory. This is how the Opal Plumstead sweets were invented.
They discuss all these different kinds of topics; Olivia often brings up about her future husband. Opal always declares;
“I shall never marry a man, I am an independent woman.”
Opal’s mother and beautiful sister Cassie, strongly disagree with this. Opal’s mother (Lou) tells Cassie;
“Now Cassandra, don’t go throwing yourself at any man that makes eyes at you, go for the wealthy ones.”
Cassie is beautiful, every man that meets her is drawn to her, and Cassie cannot help but make eyes at him.
Ernest Plumstead (Opal’s father) is a graduate from Oxford University. Opal admires this and competed for a scholarship to go to St Margaret’s. Ernest however, does not tell Opal why he did not follow his dreams and went to teach. After a while, Ernest gained a respectful-enough office job.
Ernest always looks drained and colour-less, like the life has been sucked out of him. When he comes home from work, he goes to his room and lies there until dinner time. Opal is always very worried him, for he is the only one in her family that really loves her.
Ernest’s real passion is to write, he always is writing manuscripts and sending them to the publishers, none of them ever get accepted.
Finally, one day, the publishers asked for a few changes in one of Ernest’s books. Ernest gets very excited, when Lou finds out, she says his story will be accepted once he makes the changes, she also states;
“We will be wealthy!”
So everyone but Opal starts spending money, Opal knows something is up.
Will Ernest’s story be accepted or not? If he does, will their life be better? Or if it does not, will everything change for ever?
For me, this book was a major page-turner. I could not stop reading! Even the second time!
Comparing this book to other “memoirs” this one had to the most detail. Like “Katy” written by Jacqueline Wilson. It was more brief in that story, whereas in this book the descriptive language painted a movie in my head the whole time, there were no parts where it got boring.
The ending really surprised me. It was very unexpected.
I would recommend this book to mature kid readers and teenagers in general.
This book is definitely is my Top #10. Of course, I have to rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.
I could read it again in a heart beat.
December 9, 2014
Woah.
Things to come back and discuss: living in sin, judgemental offensive mothers, class systems, wild women, rude women, weak women, suffragettes, ghosts, motor cars, bread and butter and jam, the depiction of men.
But right now, it's made me kinda sad and I need to read something else.
Things to come back and discuss: living in sin, judgemental offensive mothers, class systems, wild women, rude women, weak women, suffragettes, ghosts, motor cars, bread and butter and jam, the depiction of men.
But right now, it's made me kinda sad and I need to read something else.
January 24, 2020
I’m too sad to write a review.
August 19, 2021
The book Opal Plumstead is about a girl who lives a happy life with her older sister, Cassie, her mother and her father. The book starts with Opal Plumstead at her school (St Margaret’s) where she has a scholarship and her only friend is called Olivia. Her favorite teacher is called Mr Andrews (her music teacher) and her worst teacher is Mrs Mountback (her art teacher) who she calls as Mrs Mounty. After school, Opal and Olivia go to a sweet shop where they get a bag of Fairy Glen’s Sweets (a sweet factory not too far from Opal’s home) and then go to wonder around the nearby graveyard.
Her mother has no job and looks after Opal, Cassie and their father. Her father works as a writer, who has just had a book read by the publishers and is now doing it up in neat for it to be published (this is his first book going to be published). Her sister, Cassie, works in a hat shop called Madame Alouettes.
However, on the day father is going to get his book published, the publishers change their mind and don’t want to publish the book. This was going to get father and his family a lot of money and he didn’t want to disappoint them, so he writes himself a cheque and comes back home. He let Cassie get a pretty green summer dress (even though it was almost Christmas and it was all snowy), he let Opal get a paint set from London, he let mother get luxury food and he got himself a budgie called Billy and trained it to say ‘Happy Days’.
As soon as he was found out it was in the news and he was sent to court. Cassie carried on at work as mother and Opal (who was only fourteen at the time so had to dress to look older) went to court. He was sent to prison for now until the actual trials. Opal isn’t allowed to see Olivia again because of her mother.
Opal could no longer stay at St Margaret’s because there was no money coming in to pay rent and get more food for the future and so she had to work at the Fairy glen Sweet Factory. Mother let Cassie carry on with her hat making at Madame Alouettes as she started sewing little rabbits to earn money.
At the factory, Mr Beeston (the second factory owner) shows Opal (who is now dressed in an apron which is way to big for her and a cap which comes down to her eyebrows with her hair pinned up underneath it) around the different parts of the factory. She starts work in the fondant room and Patty is ordered to show her what to do. After Mr Beeston has gone, Patty doesn’t show Opal what to do and goes to the other girls working in the fondant room and they all start making fun of her. Geoff and George (the two only boys working in the fondant room) show Opal what to do and she starts making rose fondants.
After the bell goes to go home, Patty pulls Opal back and pours a whole box of starch over her. When she gets home, mothers hands are all blistered and she says that the trail is soon. Cassie washes the starch out of Opal’s hair and clothes she was wearing underneath.
On the day of the trail, Cassie, mother and Opal watch as father is accused of many things that he hasn’t done and get sentenced to one year of hard labor. Opal’s family was now made fun of by people who recognised them who had read the news.
Mother changed her job and became a washer woman who cleans, irons and folds other people’s clothes and Cassie was dating someone called Mr Evandale but mother wasn’t happy with it and so Cassie made up lies about where she had been when she was at Mr Evandale’s house while he painted nude portraits of Cassie.
Opal now went to the suffragettes meetings suggested by the factory owner, Mrs Roberts. Every night Mrs Roberts would take Opal back to her Fairy Glen house, a Gothic Victorian style house, to have tea.
Mother had found out about Cassie meeting Mr Evandale and so she went to live with him when mother said she could live with Mr Evandale if they wanted to still go out or stay at home and stop going out with Mr Evandale.
Opal now worked in the design room painting boxes for the sweets. She had accidentally upset Miss Lily (the design room head) with her new fairies on the boxes and miss Lily went home. Mrs Roberts was shown the box and loved the new design and ordered her to paint different fairies on each box with different season backgrounds.
One night at Mrs Roberts, Opal met Mrs Robert’s son, Morgan, and they both fell in love. Mrs Roberts and Opal fell out because of this but Morgan and Opal still went on their little outings in the town and once went to Hastings to the seaside where Morgan got Opal an opal necklace.
Mother now worked as a babyminder and Mr Evandale (Daniel) and Cassie had plenty of money with Cassie’s portraits. Morgan and Opal sent millions of letters to each other while away from each other.
The first World War was upcoming and Morgan was signing up. On their last outing in town, Morgan looked extremely different in his army gear. Mrs Roberts and Opal were both extremely upset about morgan going to war.
Father comes back a lot smaller and different and Fairy Glen had been shut down. Morgan was shot by a sniper while trying to help a friend and Mrs Roberts payed for Oal to go to Art College and helped her family. Mother liked babysitting Cassie and Daniel’s two babies the most. Father could no longer write as he used to be able to.
Over all I enjoyed this book very much! Definitely recommend!
Her mother has no job and looks after Opal, Cassie and their father. Her father works as a writer, who has just had a book read by the publishers and is now doing it up in neat for it to be published (this is his first book going to be published). Her sister, Cassie, works in a hat shop called Madame Alouettes.
However, on the day father is going to get his book published, the publishers change their mind and don’t want to publish the book. This was going to get father and his family a lot of money and he didn’t want to disappoint them, so he writes himself a cheque and comes back home. He let Cassie get a pretty green summer dress (even though it was almost Christmas and it was all snowy), he let Opal get a paint set from London, he let mother get luxury food and he got himself a budgie called Billy and trained it to say ‘Happy Days’.
As soon as he was found out it was in the news and he was sent to court. Cassie carried on at work as mother and Opal (who was only fourteen at the time so had to dress to look older) went to court. He was sent to prison for now until the actual trials. Opal isn’t allowed to see Olivia again because of her mother.
Opal could no longer stay at St Margaret’s because there was no money coming in to pay rent and get more food for the future and so she had to work at the Fairy glen Sweet Factory. Mother let Cassie carry on with her hat making at Madame Alouettes as she started sewing little rabbits to earn money.
At the factory, Mr Beeston (the second factory owner) shows Opal (who is now dressed in an apron which is way to big for her and a cap which comes down to her eyebrows with her hair pinned up underneath it) around the different parts of the factory. She starts work in the fondant room and Patty is ordered to show her what to do. After Mr Beeston has gone, Patty doesn’t show Opal what to do and goes to the other girls working in the fondant room and they all start making fun of her. Geoff and George (the two only boys working in the fondant room) show Opal what to do and she starts making rose fondants.
After the bell goes to go home, Patty pulls Opal back and pours a whole box of starch over her. When she gets home, mothers hands are all blistered and she says that the trail is soon. Cassie washes the starch out of Opal’s hair and clothes she was wearing underneath.
On the day of the trail, Cassie, mother and Opal watch as father is accused of many things that he hasn’t done and get sentenced to one year of hard labor. Opal’s family was now made fun of by people who recognised them who had read the news.
Mother changed her job and became a washer woman who cleans, irons and folds other people’s clothes and Cassie was dating someone called Mr Evandale but mother wasn’t happy with it and so Cassie made up lies about where she had been when she was at Mr Evandale’s house while he painted nude portraits of Cassie.
Opal now went to the suffragettes meetings suggested by the factory owner, Mrs Roberts. Every night Mrs Roberts would take Opal back to her Fairy Glen house, a Gothic Victorian style house, to have tea.
Mother had found out about Cassie meeting Mr Evandale and so she went to live with him when mother said she could live with Mr Evandale if they wanted to still go out or stay at home and stop going out with Mr Evandale.
Opal now worked in the design room painting boxes for the sweets. She had accidentally upset Miss Lily (the design room head) with her new fairies on the boxes and miss Lily went home. Mrs Roberts was shown the box and loved the new design and ordered her to paint different fairies on each box with different season backgrounds.
One night at Mrs Roberts, Opal met Mrs Robert’s son, Morgan, and they both fell in love. Mrs Roberts and Opal fell out because of this but Morgan and Opal still went on their little outings in the town and once went to Hastings to the seaside where Morgan got Opal an opal necklace.
Mother now worked as a babyminder and Mr Evandale (Daniel) and Cassie had plenty of money with Cassie’s portraits. Morgan and Opal sent millions of letters to each other while away from each other.
The first World War was upcoming and Morgan was signing up. On their last outing in town, Morgan looked extremely different in his army gear. Mrs Roberts and Opal were both extremely upset about morgan going to war.
Father comes back a lot smaller and different and Fairy Glen had been shut down. Morgan was shot by a sniper while trying to help a friend and Mrs Roberts payed for Oal to go to Art College and helped her family. Mother liked babysitting Cassie and Daniel’s two babies the most. Father could no longer write as he used to be able to.
Over all I enjoyed this book very much! Definitely recommend!
December 16, 2018
When this book came out, I was so excited. I loved ( and still do! ) all of Jacqueline Wilson's books. But for me, this one was really really special. For some reason, I related with Opal ( which I'm not sure why because we don't have much in common, apart from books and an interest in the suffragettes ) and that made me enjoy the book more. After I read it, I was desperate for a sequel, and even considered writing to Jacqueline Wilson to ask her! In the end, I never did though. I loved learning about the 1914s and the suffragettes and overall Opal Plumstead is one of my favourite books by Jacqueline Wilson.
March 27, 2017
love the book
April 2, 2018
This book was amazing I loved it all but at the ending it was really sad if anyone wants to know it was in the war and I think you should definitely read this it is one of my favourite Jacqueline Wilson books and I really enjoyed it.📚📙📘📗📕📓📔📖
Read
October 30, 2024So sad yet so beautiful
April 22, 2025
this was Jacqueline Wilson's last good book and the final page always makes me cry
September 7, 2022
1 star has definitely been given for the nostalgia factor 😵💼 opal is quite stuck up her own behind i must say, i found her a bit annoying/insolent at times, though i guess it was a good read overall.
May 30, 2024
Bloody marvellous
April 2, 2024
I kept thinking about this book for some reason so decided to re-read. How do Jacqueline Wilson’s books manage to be this depressing for children’s storys?! Still good though.
May 28, 2021
This is the worst book written by Jaqueline Wilson that I’ve read. It feels like she tried to recapture the same charming rebelliousness of Hetty Feather, but ended up missing the mark. The main problem with the book, that makes it pretty unbearable to trudge through, is the character Opal herself. She is the whiniest, rudest, self-absorbed, inconsiderate, judgmental protagonist I’ve ever read. Even before her father goes to prison she’s jealous of her sister and makes her out to be some cruel bully, despite Cassie never being malicious to her in the first place. If anything Opal is shown saying mean things to Cassie on multiple occasions. Opal is also classist and speaks down to everyone she views as below her (which is 90% of the other characters). All the bullying that Opal endures is brought on by her being making snide remarks at her coworkers. She also just makes everything about herself and will bring up upsetting memories for people to just get more upset, then when they do she’ll not apologize because it’s not like she cares about them in the first place. Honestly there’s a lot of problems with her and I don’t have time to go through it all. It is disappointing that Opal had to be the focus because there are other characters that are likable which should’ve gotten more development. (Would also like to add that Opal doesn’t really experience any character development which could’ve worked to show her outgrowing her obnoxious attitude and learning to be kinder and more humble).
Another issue is how the book is marketed. From the cover and the synopsis it is very much made out to be about the suffragette movement, but this aspect of the story is so minuscule that you could remove it and it wouldn’t make a difference to the story. The suffragettes only get mentioned 3/5 of the way into the book and the only thing she does is attend a few meetings then decide that she doesn’t like them. I can barely remember any of the suffragette moments in the book because it is just an after thought.
I absolutely hated the experience of reading this book but I don’t like to leave books unfinished. The vast majority of the book is 1 star. Terrible. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the final 50 pages of the book. This is the part where WW1 begins so Opal doesn’t have time to share her boring, mean spirited comments because there is a lot going on around her that takes the attention away from her. I don’t want to go to into detail with the ending simply because I feel like if you somehow managed to make it through 450 pages of nothing you deserve to enjoy the ending with minimal spoilers. The ending is the most beautifully written part of the book and the most interesting. Reading about the initial reactions people had to the war is great. There is also a page which ends with a warning not to turn the page if you want a happy ending, I thought that was a nice touch. The ending is very sad though. Even as someone who despised the protagonist, I felt bad. It definitely feels like Jacqueline Wilson was more passionate about writing a novel set in WW1 so I’m a bit confused at why she didn’t set the entire book then, since that portion had a lot of potential.
Overall do I recommend this book? Of course not. Too much of this book either boring or mean spirited. The ending ,although good, isn’t worth what you have to get through to reach. Just read Hetty Feather.
Another issue is how the book is marketed. From the cover and the synopsis it is very much made out to be about the suffragette movement, but this aspect of the story is so minuscule that you could remove it and it wouldn’t make a difference to the story. The suffragettes only get mentioned 3/5 of the way into the book and the only thing she does is attend a few meetings then decide that she doesn’t like them. I can barely remember any of the suffragette moments in the book because it is just an after thought.
I absolutely hated the experience of reading this book but I don’t like to leave books unfinished. The vast majority of the book is 1 star. Terrible. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the final 50 pages of the book. This is the part where WW1 begins so Opal doesn’t have time to share her boring, mean spirited comments because there is a lot going on around her that takes the attention away from her. I don’t want to go to into detail with the ending simply because I feel like if you somehow managed to make it through 450 pages of nothing you deserve to enjoy the ending with minimal spoilers. The ending is the most beautifully written part of the book and the most interesting. Reading about the initial reactions people had to the war is great. There is also a page which ends with a warning not to turn the page if you want a happy ending, I thought that was a nice touch. The ending is very sad though. Even as someone who despised the protagonist, I felt bad. It definitely feels like Jacqueline Wilson was more passionate about writing a novel set in WW1 so I’m a bit confused at why she didn’t set the entire book then, since that portion had a lot of potential.
Overall do I recommend this book? Of course not. Too much of this book either boring or mean spirited. The ending ,although good, isn’t worth what you have to get through to reach. Just read Hetty Feather.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 1, 2015
Jaqueline Wilson’s Opal Plumstead is her latest work to date and I have to say that I was impressed. Generally, Wilson’s books are aimed at a younger demographic than myself so with this book, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it genuinely entertained me. Set in pre-war Edwardian times, this book is about a proud, fiercely intelligent 14-year-old scholarship girl named Opal Plumstead. Visually, Opal is very plain and is jealous of her sister Cassie’s curvy figure and her ability to attract attention from any man who passes (although Opal herself has vowed to never marry any man and believes romantic love to be fictitious). Opal’s father, Ernest, works for a firm in London but has always tried writing novels which all so far have been turned down. Like most married woman of that era, Opal’s mother is a housewife. When suddenly Ernest is a accused and sent to prison for embezzlement, Opal’s dreams of going to university are shattered and she is forced to work at the Fairy Glen Sweet Factory in order to support her family financially. However, although Opal finds the factory work tedious and her fellow workers to be uncouth bullies, she soon meets the factory owner Mrs Roberts who Opal idolises. Seeing her determined spirit, Mrs Roberts invites Opal to come along to one of the suffragette’s meetings. Soon they become firm friends. But will this change when Morgan, Mrs Roberts son, comes home from university for the holidays…?
What I liked about this book, is the fact that the time period is so well observed and, as far as I know, quite accurate. For example, Wilson shows a clear division between the social classes and with that, the social etiquette which is assumed such as only marrying those of the same background as yourself (i.e no one outside of your social circles). It seemed it was also frowned upon for a married woman to work (in sharp contrast to modern day) and only does so if they are destitute/poverty ridden.I found that Opal herself is an extremely likeable character because of her fiery nature and defiance towards others, particularly in a time when women were meant to be seen and not heard. I also found that I could easily relate to Opal as well, being a 14 year old girl myself and I like to think that I have quite a strong character as well.
However, something that I disliked about the book is that even though I realise there needs to be a section in the book to set the scene and get to know the characters, I felt this stage of the book was far too long and arguably, the main events of the story didn't start until over halfway through the book. Similarly, I felt as if the ending was a bit rushed as it seemed to be squeezed into just a couple of chapters.
I would recommend this book to any one who is already a fan of Jaqueline Wilson, especially if you liked the Hetty Feather series. However, I would advise parents of young/sensitive children to read through some of the book first as it may be quite upsetting for them. There also may be scenes which may seem unsuitable, especially the relationship between Cassie and Mr Evandale, though nothing goes into detail and I personally didn't think that there were any inappropriate scenes.
I would definitely recommend this book.
What I liked about this book, is the fact that the time period is so well observed and, as far as I know, quite accurate. For example, Wilson shows a clear division between the social classes and with that, the social etiquette which is assumed such as only marrying those of the same background as yourself (i.e no one outside of your social circles). It seemed it was also frowned upon for a married woman to work (in sharp contrast to modern day) and only does so if they are destitute/poverty ridden.I found that Opal herself is an extremely likeable character because of her fiery nature and defiance towards others, particularly in a time when women were meant to be seen and not heard. I also found that I could easily relate to Opal as well, being a 14 year old girl myself and I like to think that I have quite a strong character as well.
However, something that I disliked about the book is that even though I realise there needs to be a section in the book to set the scene and get to know the characters, I felt this stage of the book was far too long and arguably, the main events of the story didn't start until over halfway through the book. Similarly, I felt as if the ending was a bit rushed as it seemed to be squeezed into just a couple of chapters.
I would recommend this book to any one who is already a fan of Jaqueline Wilson, especially if you liked the Hetty Feather series. However, I would advise parents of young/sensitive children to read through some of the book first as it may be quite upsetting for them. There also may be scenes which may seem unsuitable, especially the relationship between Cassie and Mr Evandale, though nothing goes into detail and I personally didn't think that there were any inappropriate scenes.
I would definitely recommend this book.
September 19, 2021
I AM IN LOVE WITH EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS STORY.
when I tell you if you can read this book, please please do - and do be deceived by the cover or the author even because this book has me feeling so many emotions even as a 15 year old.
I am in absolute love with Opal and her mindset and I can relate to so many of her immediate reactions to things, as she develops through the storyline.
Cassie oh Cassie, I must say I didn't like her as a start and I didn't see her character being as determined as she was - but she grew to be someone I really liked by the end, and seeing them all happy - her and Daniel and their two (soon to be 3 in book-land) children, when her mother finally came around and accepted Daniel into the family was stunning.
But their Poor Poor father - I don't think ive ever felt so much empathy before. See I got him - I understood it, why he faked the cheque and wanted everyone to be happy. I understood his dream like state in court and I got is withered frail figure once he finally returned at the end of the story. It broke my heart seeing him how he was at the end, and the relationship between him and Opal slowly fading is such a saddening part of the story.
But poor Morgan and Mrs Roberts and that damn sweet factory. As I have said I am In love with this story - and seeing how it begun was semi-predictable but when it reached where she was so so happy in that design room I thought that would be summit of her happiness. I adore Mrs Roberts character and also how at points Opal retaliates against her beliefs within class considering her efforts towards the suffragettes movement.
I think this story captures beautifully how Opal falls for Morgan and at times I felt I was falling in love just the same. And that really heart wrenching line of "don't turn the page. believe in happy endings. Chirp like little billy,'happy days, happy days, happy days.' BROKE ME.
But the ending it what really really set this book like it is. The theme of Ghosts throughout - from the first line to the very very ending and throughout is something so small yet so crucial In stories which sometimes is overlooked, but in this story is an exquisite representation of it being used perfectly. The ending left me so hopeful for Opal and Sam in the future yet still agreeing with her in the betrayal of Morgan she had felt. And feeling how broken down the Fairy Glen house was represented, to me, how the entire friendships built and all the memories were overgrown and sad yet would last forevermore.
I am practically sobbing for how truly beautiful this story was - I was hooked right from the first few pages.
when I tell you if you can read this book, please please do - and do be deceived by the cover or the author even because this book has me feeling so many emotions even as a 15 year old.
I am in absolute love with Opal and her mindset and I can relate to so many of her immediate reactions to things, as she develops through the storyline.
Cassie oh Cassie, I must say I didn't like her as a start and I didn't see her character being as determined as she was - but she grew to be someone I really liked by the end, and seeing them all happy - her and Daniel and their two (soon to be 3 in book-land) children, when her mother finally came around and accepted Daniel into the family was stunning.
But their Poor Poor father - I don't think ive ever felt so much empathy before. See I got him - I understood it, why he faked the cheque and wanted everyone to be happy. I understood his dream like state in court and I got is withered frail figure once he finally returned at the end of the story. It broke my heart seeing him how he was at the end, and the relationship between him and Opal slowly fading is such a saddening part of the story.
But poor Morgan and Mrs Roberts and that damn sweet factory. As I have said I am In love with this story - and seeing how it begun was semi-predictable but when it reached where she was so so happy in that design room I thought that would be summit of her happiness. I adore Mrs Roberts character and also how at points Opal retaliates against her beliefs within class considering her efforts towards the suffragettes movement.
I think this story captures beautifully how Opal falls for Morgan and at times I felt I was falling in love just the same. And that really heart wrenching line of "don't turn the page. believe in happy endings. Chirp like little billy,'happy days, happy days, happy days.' BROKE ME.
But the ending it what really really set this book like it is. The theme of Ghosts throughout - from the first line to the very very ending and throughout is something so small yet so crucial In stories which sometimes is overlooked, but in this story is an exquisite representation of it being used perfectly. The ending left me so hopeful for Opal and Sam in the future yet still agreeing with her in the betrayal of Morgan she had felt. And feeling how broken down the Fairy Glen house was represented, to me, how the entire friendships built and all the memories were overgrown and sad yet would last forevermore.
I am practically sobbing for how truly beautiful this story was - I was hooked right from the first few pages.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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