Old Baggage

Perfectly timed for the centenary of the women's vote in 2018, OLD BAGGAGE takes a unique approach to the suffragette story. Mattie was once a militant campaigner but now in middle age, she finds herself a purposeful woman without a purpose.As featured on BBC Radio 4 Good Reads'The work of a novelist in her prime' Daily Telegraph'Wise and witty' Sarah Hughes, Observer'Essential . . . Evans is a brilliant storyteller' Stylist'A timely, bittersweet comic novel' Guardian'A thoughtful, funny, companionable novel' Sunday Times___What do you do next, after you've changed the world?It is 1928. Matilda Simpkin, rooting through a cupboard, comes across a small wooden club - an old possession of hers, unseen for more than a decade.Mattie is a woman with a thrilling past and a chafingly uneventful present. During the Women's Suffrage Campaign she was a militant. Jailed five times, she marched, sang, gave speeches, smashed windows and heckled Winston Churchill, and nothing - nothing - since then has had the same depth, the same excitement.Now in middle age, she is still looking for a fresh mould into which to pour her energies. Giving the wooden club a thoughtful twirl, she is struck by an idea - but what starts as a brilliantly idealistic plan is derailed by a connection with Mattie's militant past, one which begins to threaten every principle that she stands for.Old Baggage is a funny and bittersweet portrait of a woman who has never, never given up the fight.

“Wise and witty”

-- Sarah Hughes Observer
I loved Old Baggage. Such original characters, and so timely. And it made me weep at the end. -- JoJo Moyes
Utterly wonderful and intelligent -- India Knight Sunday Times Magazine
A timely, bittersweet comic novel Guardian
Old Baggage gives an inspiring model of womanhood. Moving, warm and wry. It is wonderful! -- Marian Keyes
This beautifully written story teems with atmosphere and perfect period detail but it’s the brave and brilliant Mattie that makes it unforgettable Sunday Mirror
Essential . . . Evans is a brilliant storyteller Stylist
Lissa Evans’s gift for comedy edged with satire and pathos is God-given . . . Mattie’s search for meaning and purpose, which hints at the darker undercurrents of people marginalised by their sex and era, will strike a chord with most. -- Elizabeth Buchan Daily Mail
A thoughtful, funny, companionable novel, offering an invigoratingly fresh vantage on a well-trodden period -- Patricia Nicol Sunday Times
Lissa Evans writes with beguiling wit and vigour. I found myself utterly involved with her heroines, and the history is spot-on. -- Jane Robinson, author of HEARTS AND MINDS

Lissa Evans has written books for both adults and children, including the bestselling Old Baggage, Their Finest Hour and a Half (filmed as Their Finest), Small Change for Stuart and Wed Wabbit, both shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, and Small Bomb at Dimperley.

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