Finding yourself during the War.

Synopsis

July 1914: Britain is in turmoil as WW1 begins to change the world. While the young men disappear off to foreign battlefields, the women left at home throw themselves into jobs meant for the boys.

Hiding her privileged background and her suffragette past, Constance Copeland signs up to be a Clippie – collecting money and giving out tickets – on the trams, despite her parents’ disapproval.

Constance, now known as Connie, soon finds there is more to life than the wealth she was born into and she soon makes fast friends with lively fellow Clippies, Betty and Jean, as well as growing closer to the charming, gentle Inspector Robert Caldwell.

But Connie is haunted by another secret; and if it comes out, it could destroy her new life.

After war ends and the men return to take back their roles, will Connie find that she can return to her previous existence? Or has she been changed forever by seeing a new world through the tram windows?

My review

Constance Copeland is having a rather privileged life. Money is not what worries her father, rather finding a good and wealthy match for his daughter. And hiding his daughter’s past as a suffragette.
But Constance has a mind of her own, and dreams of marrying out of love.
Yet being in 1914, the War brings Britain in turmoil and all the women have to adapt into taking jobs meant for the men at war now.
So Constance, despite her parents’ disapproval finds herself being a Clippie, collecting money and giving out tickets on trams. By changing her name now into Connie, she tries to hide her past and her wealth.
Soon she realizes that there is more to life than what she thought and makes friends in places she would never imagine.

But what will happen when the War ends?

This story was had somehow a double plot. We have on one side Constance and her sense of righteousness. But on the other side, we also have the War and its consequences for our protagonists.

From the start, it’s clear that Constance has a good sense of what is right and what is wrong. Even if sometimes she made the wrong decision, she always did it with the right intentions.
What I truly liked about Connie, is that she doesn’t make a distinction between poor and rich. She doesn’t care what the background of her friends is, even if for some it would mean not to interact with them. She befriends people based on characters and how good they get along.

She is a strong woman, making a mind of her own, and is not afraid to sometimes defy her own father. She stands behind her ideas and does not give up easily.

Also when the War seems to take longer than thought, she is not afraid to make her own decision to start working as a Clippie. Not only because her family is facing economic issues because of the War, but also because she wants to make her own contribution during the difficult times.

And this is what I liked about this story. Everybody knows how awful the War was for those who are fighting. But here we get a glimpse of how it was for those staying at home, women that have to do the jobs of their men, the fear of not knowing how their beloved ones are coping.

This is a story about a strong woman, fighting almost literally for her rights, in one of the darkest moments of mankind. Yet she does not just give up, and she is not afraid of doing what must. The author managed to write about a young woman slowly discovering herself, realizing that her strong beliefs are not understood by everyone. But also that the past mistakes cannot just be erased, but can be forgiven.