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A Complicated Matter
A young woman's extraordinary journey of self-discovery and an intimate meditation on what it takes to find our place in the world.
I used to believe the world had been created for me; every stone and grain of sand. As I grew older, I began to think of myself as something tacked on to the edge.
1939, London: From McPhail's Passage to Kensington's Grand Palace Hotel, Rose Dunbar is evacuated from her humble home on the Rock of Gibraltar and dropped into a chaotic city of falling bombs, perplexing class rules and bad weather. Despite being 'flagrantly foreign' to the locals, she becomes an efficient go-between for the upper-class ladies helping out with the war effort and her own tribe of noisy displaced families.
It is only when she is shifted to the countryside to become secretary to the plain-speaking and sightless Major Inchbold that Rose's dizzying journey to womanhood will become more surreal than ever, as she drinks tea at the vicarage, shields her best friend from abuse and stands up for the lower orders. But Rose's greatest dilemma is yet to come, as she must decide where her home - and her heart - really lies.
In Anne Youngson's wry and sublimely understated prose, this unique and beautiful story of love, class and belonging is also a profound and intimate meditation on what it takes to find our place in the world.
I used to believe the world had been created for me; every stone and grain of sand. As I grew older, I began to think of myself as something tacked on to the edge.
1939, London: From McPhail's Passage to Kensington's Grand Palace Hotel, Rose Dunbar is evacuated from her humble home on the Rock of Gibraltar and dropped into a chaotic city of falling bombs, perplexing class rules and bad weather. Despite being 'flagrantly foreign' to the locals, she becomes an efficient go-between for the upper-class ladies helping out with the war effort and her own tribe of noisy displaced families.
It is only when she is shifted to the countryside to become secretary to the plain-speaking and sightless Major Inchbold that Rose's dizzying journey to womanhood will become more surreal than ever, as she drinks tea at the vicarage, shields her best friend from abuse and stands up for the lower orders. But Rose's greatest dilemma is yet to come, as she must decide where her home - and her heart - really lies.
In Anne Youngson's wry and sublimely understated prose, this unique and beautiful story of love, class and belonging is also a profound and intimate meditation on what it takes to find our place in the world.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published March 23, 2023
16 people are currently reading
271 people want to read
About the author
Anne Youngson
7 books364 followersAnne Youngson worked for many years in senior management in the car industry before embarking on a creative career as a writer. She has supported many charities in governance roles, including Chair of the Writers in Prison Network, which provided residencies in prisons for writers. She lives in Oxfordshire and is married with two children and three grandchildren to date. Meet Me at the Museum is her debut novel, which is due to be published around the world.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 5, 2023
'A Complicated Matter' is a journey. Like all good journeys, it ambles, stumbles on the unforeseen, and is at times wayward. This story is based on the real-life evacuation of Gibraltar at the onset of WWII. Predominately women and children were wrenched not only from their homes but from their very insular, traditional ways of life. 'It is where I once began and so it is where I will begin this story...'
Rose Dunbar leads a simple life in Gibraltar, with her parents and older brother. She takes care of her invalid mother. She finds a job that nourishes her love of books and gives her peace from the bubbling community which surrounds her. However, at 23 years old, this life comes to a dramatic end with the forced evacuation. First to Morrocco and then on to London at the height of the blitz. Although forced by the British Government's order to leave their homes, the evacuees are completely displaced in a foreign land and climate. 'I was tripped up by those pronouns, 'us' and 'them', and by the realization I no longer understood what they meant'. Rose is forced into a journey of self-discovery; who she really is and who she wants to be. 'War has a way of detaching us from ourselves'.
'A Complicated Matter' at first reads like a memoir, but the detailed observations and ruminations then begin to read like a letter to a friend. However, this journey is a story of love and connection; finding our niche, our purpose, and the people who matter the most. Anne Youngson's thoughtful introspection and prose are both considered and illuminating. I thought this was a thought-provoking read, touching on an aspect of WWII I was previously unaware of.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK Transworld Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Rose Dunbar leads a simple life in Gibraltar, with her parents and older brother. She takes care of her invalid mother. She finds a job that nourishes her love of books and gives her peace from the bubbling community which surrounds her. However, at 23 years old, this life comes to a dramatic end with the forced evacuation. First to Morrocco and then on to London at the height of the blitz. Although forced by the British Government's order to leave their homes, the evacuees are completely displaced in a foreign land and climate. 'I was tripped up by those pronouns, 'us' and 'them', and by the realization I no longer understood what they meant'. Rose is forced into a journey of self-discovery; who she really is and who she wants to be. 'War has a way of detaching us from ourselves'.
'A Complicated Matter' at first reads like a memoir, but the detailed observations and ruminations then begin to read like a letter to a friend. However, this journey is a story of love and connection; finding our niche, our purpose, and the people who matter the most. Anne Youngson's thoughtful introspection and prose are both considered and illuminating. I thought this was a thought-provoking read, touching on an aspect of WWII I was previously unaware of.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK Transworld Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.
March 18, 2023
I've enjoyed both of Anne Youngson's previous two books - Meet Me at the Museum and Three Women and a Boat (now titled The Narrowboat Summer) - and I was pleased to have the opportunity to exchange a few words with her and have her sign my copy of Meet Me at the Museum at Henley Literary Festival in 2018 when she appeared alongside A. J. Pearce, author of Dear Mrs. Bird.
A Complicated Matter is quite different in style and subject matter from Three Women and a Boat, as well as not being set in the present day but during and after the Second World War. However I did find echoes of Meet Me at the Museum in the parts of the book that explore feelings of isolation and finding yourself living a life different from that you'd imagined.
I admit I knew nothing about the evacuation from Gibraltar during the war of those referred to as 'useless mouths', i.e. those not required for the defence of the island. This evacuation - of mostly women and children - is the 'complicated matter' of the title. Initially, transported to Morocco, Rose and members of her family find themselves separated from loved ones and experiencing the hostility that refugees often face. At one point there is even a plan to evacuate them to Jamaica; Rose aptly remarks 'as if they're a parcel'.
When they are moved to London they experience the terror of the Blitz alongside other Londoners. But of course they're not like other Londoners; they have been placed in an entirely alien environment. Rose's friend Sonia, working as governess to a family, expresses the feeling of dislocation well when she writes, 'Isn't it hard being here instead of at home, speaking English all the time, but never feeling English? Not being able to to see the sea? Being surrounded by greenery instead of by rock. Not knowing what is going to happen to us next?' Rose struggles to find a useful role for herself, besides caring for her disabled mother, although actually she is more useful than she gives herself credit for.
The book is structured as Rose's story, written by herself, for the consumption of a person who is not identified until near the end of the book. Slightly confusingly this person is referred to in the third person until such time as their identity becomes clear. The most absorbing part of the book for me was the final section in which Rose takes up a position as secretary to Major Inchbold. I thought it was clever of the author to make Major Inchbold blind as it means he can't judge Rose on the basis of what she looks like or what she wears, but only what she says and does, how she interacts with other people. There is a moment when Rose enables Major Inchbold to sense her appearance that I found mildly erotic. Major Inchbold's moments of anger, borne out of frustration more than anything else, are also a neat echo of Rose's mother's often spiky personality.
I admired the insightful way the author explored Rose's situation and that of anyone who finds themselves uprooted from the surroundings they have known and I found the ending rather moving.
A Complicated Matter is a gently paced novel about displacement, identity and finding your place in the world.
A Complicated Matter is quite different in style and subject matter from Three Women and a Boat, as well as not being set in the present day but during and after the Second World War. However I did find echoes of Meet Me at the Museum in the parts of the book that explore feelings of isolation and finding yourself living a life different from that you'd imagined.
I admit I knew nothing about the evacuation from Gibraltar during the war of those referred to as 'useless mouths', i.e. those not required for the defence of the island. This evacuation - of mostly women and children - is the 'complicated matter' of the title. Initially, transported to Morocco, Rose and members of her family find themselves separated from loved ones and experiencing the hostility that refugees often face. At one point there is even a plan to evacuate them to Jamaica; Rose aptly remarks 'as if they're a parcel'.
When they are moved to London they experience the terror of the Blitz alongside other Londoners. But of course they're not like other Londoners; they have been placed in an entirely alien environment. Rose's friend Sonia, working as governess to a family, expresses the feeling of dislocation well when she writes, 'Isn't it hard being here instead of at home, speaking English all the time, but never feeling English? Not being able to to see the sea? Being surrounded by greenery instead of by rock. Not knowing what is going to happen to us next?' Rose struggles to find a useful role for herself, besides caring for her disabled mother, although actually she is more useful than she gives herself credit for.
The book is structured as Rose's story, written by herself, for the consumption of a person who is not identified until near the end of the book. Slightly confusingly this person is referred to in the third person until such time as their identity becomes clear. The most absorbing part of the book for me was the final section in which Rose takes up a position as secretary to Major Inchbold. I thought it was clever of the author to make Major Inchbold blind as it means he can't judge Rose on the basis of what she looks like or what she wears, but only what she says and does, how she interacts with other people. There is a moment when Rose enables Major Inchbold to sense her appearance that I found mildly erotic. Major Inchbold's moments of anger, borne out of frustration more than anything else, are also a neat echo of Rose's mother's often spiky personality.
I admired the insightful way the author explored Rose's situation and that of anyone who finds themselves uprooted from the surroundings they have known and I found the ending rather moving.
A Complicated Matter is a gently paced novel about displacement, identity and finding your place in the world.
April 19, 2023
I really enjoyed this book.
Anne Youngson concentrates on writing very well about the people who life (and books ) don't usually focus on - the quiet reserved folk who just get on with stuff in a capable way. The heroine of this book is from Gibraltar and is evacuated with many of her family and friends to England at the start of the second world war. It's a tale of displacement and loss of all the familiar things in her life. She's amazing though - she copes with everything thrown at her and makes the best of it.
It's part of the history of the war that I knew little about. It did make me think of how as a country, we looked after people then, in a way that is sadly lacking now in our attitude to refugees and displaced people.
All credit to Anne Youngson for her gentle, thoughtful novels, and for getting published for the first time at an age when most people are thinking of retirement!
Anne Youngson concentrates on writing very well about the people who life (and books ) don't usually focus on - the quiet reserved folk who just get on with stuff in a capable way. The heroine of this book is from Gibraltar and is evacuated with many of her family and friends to England at the start of the second world war. It's a tale of displacement and loss of all the familiar things in her life. She's amazing though - she copes with everything thrown at her and makes the best of it.
It's part of the history of the war that I knew little about. It did make me think of how as a country, we looked after people then, in a way that is sadly lacking now in our attitude to refugees and displaced people.
All credit to Anne Youngson for her gentle, thoughtful novels, and for getting published for the first time at an age when most people are thinking of retirement!
October 29, 2024
3.5 * really. A good insight into the experiences of non combatants in wartime. Told from the viewpoint of an evacuee from Gibraltar it covers her and her fellow evacuees lives in London and then other placements in the UK. Interesting but a little dull in some sections. The author deals with relationships well and with the emotional side of having one's life uprooted.
April 5, 2023
Rose Dunbar has grown up in Gibraltar, her father being Scottish she has learnt English but her prospects are bleak as she is responsible for her disabled mother. There is some respite when she gains a job in the Garrison and can read to her heart's content. At the outbreak of war Rose is evacuated to Casablanca and then to London, alongside her mother and selfish sister-in-law. However Rose's hard work see her making friends and eventually gaining a job in the country where she stays to the end of the war. However once the fighting is ended Rose has a choice to make, to stay or to go.
This is quite a pleasant book, it reads quickly and is not too challenging. However I felt it lacked grit, the hardships of being an evacuee are never really explored in detail. It's a nice enough story for a bit of simple escapism.
This is quite a pleasant book, it reads quickly and is not too challenging. However I felt it lacked grit, the hardships of being an evacuee are never really explored in detail. It's a nice enough story for a bit of simple escapism.
January 11, 2025
Novel set in WW2 London and Witney
Rose Dunbar is a daughter of mixed heritage and feels very much at home in Gibraltar. She looks after her mother who suffered life-changing damage after Rose’s birth and she spends her days in great pain. Rose cares for her.
War on mainland Europe has broken out and Gibraltarians are being evacuated, first to Morocco and then to London where Rose, her mother and other members of the community are housed in a hotel. The sense of London during the war years is vibrantly brought to life in the careful and thoughtful hands of this author.
Rose’s heritage means that she is not a shoe-in into London life, even though she is a dual national; much of the story is centred around her finding her place and skills and understanding the ‘new’ culture in which she finds herself. She is a quiet and unassuming person, who is naturally drawn to books and she has a knack of finding access to novels to while away the hours, especially in the bomb shelters.
Once her circumstances change, she heads for a job based in Oxfordshire, where she is to work as a secretary to Major Inchbold, an archly plain speaking man who is without his sight. Here she continues to learn more about English society and how she can assimilate and grow as a young woman.
This is a rich and slow-paced novel that takes its time to explore the character of Rose in her context of time and place. It can feel quite languorous at times but the quality of prose can make this feel as familiar and comfortable as a pair of well-worn slippers.
Rose Dunbar is a daughter of mixed heritage and feels very much at home in Gibraltar. She looks after her mother who suffered life-changing damage after Rose’s birth and she spends her days in great pain. Rose cares for her.
War on mainland Europe has broken out and Gibraltarians are being evacuated, first to Morocco and then to London where Rose, her mother and other members of the community are housed in a hotel. The sense of London during the war years is vibrantly brought to life in the careful and thoughtful hands of this author.
Rose’s heritage means that she is not a shoe-in into London life, even though she is a dual national; much of the story is centred around her finding her place and skills and understanding the ‘new’ culture in which she finds herself. She is a quiet and unassuming person, who is naturally drawn to books and she has a knack of finding access to novels to while away the hours, especially in the bomb shelters.
Once her circumstances change, she heads for a job based in Oxfordshire, where she is to work as a secretary to Major Inchbold, an archly plain speaking man who is without his sight. Here she continues to learn more about English society and how she can assimilate and grow as a young woman.
This is a rich and slow-paced novel that takes its time to explore the character of Rose in her context of time and place. It can feel quite languorous at times but the quality of prose can make this feel as familiar and comfortable as a pair of well-worn slippers.
July 27, 2024
A very pleasant read. It’s not challenging or demanding and all the better for that. An interesting story, well told and well-paced. Quite simple and straightforward, a narrative that starts from the beginning and goes on to the end. I found this a refreshing change, to be honest, a book to sink into and simply enjoy. This may sound as though I am damning it with faint praise, but in fact I really appreciated and enjoyed it, rattling through it in just a couple of days. The story starts in Gibraltar at the outbreak of war. I never knew that much of the population of the Rock were evacuated to England for their safety. They’re not badly treated but being uprooted from their homes isn’t a great experience. An interesting glimpse into another aspect of wartime Britain, one completely unfamiliar to me. Rose Dunbar is the main protagonist and we follow her journey through wartime London and on to pastures new, and a future she could never have predicted.
June 3, 2024
Didn't really enjoy this. I loved Anne Youngson's debut "Meet me at the Museum" even though it was written as letters between the characters which I normally don't like. This was written as the main character writing her life story for another character and I didn't get on with the style.
I didn't really care about any of the characters. I didn't think the relationship between the main character and her mother was that realistic and the mother's death was coincidently what my own mother died of a few months ago so that was upsetting to read in what I'd expected to be a gentle comfort read romance. I probably should have just re-read "Meet me at the Museum".
I didn't really care about any of the characters. I didn't think the relationship between the main character and her mother was that realistic and the mother's death was coincidently what my own mother died of a few months ago so that was upsetting to read in what I'd expected to be a gentle comfort read romance. I probably should have just re-read "Meet me at the Museum".
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2024
I enjoyed this book immensely. All the characters were very different and very interesting. It told the story of Rose and many other women and children who were evacuated from Gibraltar during WWII. I wasn’t aware of this previously and it encouraged me to dig deeper and I was quite horrified to read that this really happened.
Rose was a very brave young woman who took an opportunity and I loved the way this story ended.
Rose was a very brave young woman who took an opportunity and I loved the way this story ended.
July 5, 2024
It is a sweet novel that tells the tale of a girl who have been caught in the middle of the war in Gibraltar, she is sent to London with her mother along with lots of evacuees.
It is very well written, and easy to find yourself immersed in the conflict. The protagonist rejects the marriage proposition of a young friend, not knowing what she will find in her new life.
In the end, and after a plethora of adventures, she finds a new home but more importantly, she finds love.
It is very well written, and easy to find yourself immersed in the conflict. The protagonist rejects the marriage proposition of a young friend, not knowing what she will find in her new life.
In the end, and after a plethora of adventures, she finds a new home but more importantly, she finds love.
March 17, 2025
The story of Rose, evacuated from Gibraltar in WW2 with the female members of her family. Seems to divide into 3 parts; early life in Gib and first evacuation to Morocco, life based in a London hotel, then time helping a blind author. I enjoyed the character descriptions of some recognisable people, all with strengths and weaknesses. There was a satisfying ending. There were a few asides to ‘you’ which puzzled me until the end when it was explained.
May 29, 2023
This is well written but I found it very slow and dull. It is the potentially interesting story of a woman who is evacuated from Gibraltar during WWII. However, it is just like a long diary of every little every-day and unexciting thing that happens to her along the way. I gave up a third in.
February 28, 2024
A nice read. Part two started to feel a bit long and repetitive and I was waiting for the story to move on. Part three is a bit more interesting. The sentence structure is sometimes a little odd and I had to reread it. I liked Rose's 'voice' and the way she observes and describes events.
March 5, 2024
Really interesting book
Beautifully written book that covers history I was not aware of. We never stop learning never mind how old we are. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was sensitively written and the characters were colourful and believable.
Beautifully written book that covers history I was not aware of. We never stop learning never mind how old we are. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was sensitively written and the characters were colourful and believable.
June 2, 2024
This is an inoffensive book. You are reading a rather well written diary. However, it is rather passionless, colourless almost as though the risqué parts, rude unguarded opinions have been edited out. A book for the age.
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March 13, 2023I learned of this book via this post:https://whatcathyreadnext.wordpress.c...
July 31, 2023
3.5 rounded up. An enjoyable meander of a novel.
March 1, 2024
I liked the way the author conveyed this war story. The families relationships were interesting and I enjoyed Rose and the description of her life during the war.
April 19, 2024
This book
Such a different and gentle story of war and love. Loved the story and the writers attention to detail and truth.
Such a different and gentle story of war and love. Loved the story and the writers attention to detail and truth.
April 21, 2024
Great read
A really enjoyable read. Well constructed and nicely written. Take on holiday or find a comfortable chair near a fire.
A really enjoyable read. Well constructed and nicely written. Take on holiday or find a comfortable chair near a fire.
June 2, 2024
5 stars
Very interesting, not a romance as such but a beautiful tapestry of people living under extreme conditions and a lesson in how we treat evacuees and refugees....
Very interesting, not a romance as such but a beautiful tapestry of people living under extreme conditions and a lesson in how we treat evacuees and refugees....
August 16, 2024
Very gentle and enjoyable read . Interesting bit of history I knew nothing about. Loved the characters
March 23, 2025
Enjoying this : in the theme of war books. Interesting fiction based on characters who were evacuees from Gibralter, who came to England in WW2. Easy to read.
February 28, 2024
This book has stuck with me as I read several others about this period, cementing itself as one of the best. It begins in Gibraltar, where the Second World War is about to wreak havoc and those who live there must be evacuated. But first, one gets a good sense of what life was like pre-war on The Rock. Then one vividly sees the experiences of the refugee as this family is moved from place to place, ending up eventually in England. As I had read several other books about Britain during this period, I found this outsider's view particularly fascinating, and the particular struggles they dealt with, and overcame, highly illuminating. It's a great story that I recommend to others interested in the experiences of civilians, particularly women, during wartime.
Note: I did have the audio version, even though Goodreads claims there isn't one available. I got it from Audiobooks.
Note: I did have the audio version, even though Goodreads claims there isn't one available. I got it from Audiobooks.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews