Published earlier this month to coincide with the World Cup (congratulations to Spain on their win), Frances Quinn’s latest novel is set in the final years of the 19th century and inspired by the formation of the British Ladies’ Football Club. Having loved her two previous books, The Lost Passenger and That Bonesetter Woman, I was hoping for good things from this one and wasn’t disappointed. Despite not being very interested in football (soccer to my blog readers in other parts of the world!) I found this a fascinating, inspirational story.
It’s 1897 and in a world dominated by men, where husbands and fathers make all the rules, the idea of women playing football is considered ridiculous and inappropriate. But when schoolteacher Minnie Newton kicks a ball back to a group of men playing in a London park one day, she’s reminded of how much she enjoyed the game as a child. Minnie places an advertisement in the local newspaper, not sure what kind of response there’ll be, and is thrilled when she receives several replies from interested applicants. However, as the group of women gather on Saturday morning for their first session, it quickly becomes obvious that this isn’t going to be easy. Most of the women have never even watched the sport before, let alone kicked a ball – then there’s the question of what to wear (long skirts are hardly suitable) and the problem of finding somewhere to train. Eventually, though, solutions are found, and soon the club has obtained both a patron – the explorer, writer and women’s rights activist, Lady Veronica Montague – and a coach, retired male footballer Bill English.
The novel focuses on three of the lady footballers. The first is obviously Minnie herself as the club’s founder and leader. The second is Grace Mousel, a shy single woman who lives with her father and spends her days catering to his every whim. Grace discovers that she has a real talent for football but feels that she has to keep her new passion hidden from her father, as he would never understand and would insist that she give it up. Then there’s Harriet Flinders, a married woman whose husband, Richard, is stationed in India, leaving her alone in London with their two sons. Bored and dissatisfied with her marriage, Harriet decides to join Minnie’s club purely because she knows it would annoy Richard if he found out but, like Grace, she soon finds that playing football is something she enjoys both for its own sake and for the independence it gives her.
As for Minnie, we know from the beginning that she’s hiding a big secret – her real name is Adela Adams and she’s a married woman, a fact that would cause her to lose her job as a teacher if it became known. Although I felt that the false identity subplot was recycled from Quinn’s last book, The Lost Passenger, it added tension to her story just as it did to Elinor’s in that book, and we find out only gradually why Adela left her husband and changed her name and what she stands to lose if she’s caught.
Quinn has loosely based the novel on the story of the real life British Ladies’ Football Club, but doesn’t stick very closely to the facts, changing the names of the people involved and imagining matches and rivalries that the club never actually had. There are some similarities, though – the real founder of the club was Nettie Honeyball which, like Minnie Newton, was thought to be an assumed name (although Nettie’s true identity is still unconfirmed); their patron, Lady Florence Dixie, closely resembled Lady Veronica in the book (she explored Patagonia and kept a pet jaguar called Affums); and of course, both clubs, real and fictional, faced a huge amount of prejudice, scorn and ridicule.
Although I found the book very enjoyable, it’s not perfect. In particular, I wished more attention had been given to other members of the club, not just Minnie, Harriet and Grace. Some of them were barely even mentioned by name. Also, without wanting to give away spoilers, I felt that the way the story ended for two of the characters seemed very convenient and clichéd. Other than that, I loved it. It’s obviously a book with a lot to say about feminism, equality and women’s rights, but the message never gets in the way of the story. Definitely worth reading, whether or not you’re a football fan!
Thanks to Simon & Schuster UK for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.
Book 9/20 of 20 Books of Summer
She Reads Novels 
I’m not sure I’ll ever get around to reading this but it does sound quite interesting, I know nothing about the origins of women’s football!
The history of women’s football isn’t something I’ve ever given much thought to either, but I found this book fascinating and it’s good to see how far female footballers have come since then.
Agreed – I’d like to have heard more about the other players.
It’s a shame we didn’t learn any more about them – I wanted to know how their families reacted!
Interesting…. I’m not a football fan (although I do enjoy a good goal) but I’d like to investigate the *real* events a bit more. Victorian ladies pushed a LOT of boundaries in a lot of ways!
I loved this despite not being a football fan. It really highlighted the obstacles Victorian women faced, when all they wanted to do was be allowed to play a sport they enjoyed!
For all the imperfections you point to I’m sure I’d find it interesting, even given I’m not a footie fan in any way, shape or form!
I’m not a football fan either, but this book was about so much more than that. I found it very inspiring to read about a group of women fighting for something they feel strongly about, despite being ridiculed for it. It’s definitely a book worth reading!
All the books you’ve reviewed by this author sound interesting to me, but I’ve not gotten to any of them yet. Maybe this will be the first – even though I’m not a sports fan at all, it does sound like a very unique angle on history.
Her books are all excellent – I think my favourite so far was The Lost Passenger, but this one is fascinating as well. I’m not interested in sport either, but it’s still interesting from a feminist history perspective.
Glad to hear this one works for non football fans too as I’m not really into it but this does sound like it could be an interesting read overall. Its a shame about the cliché endings for some characters. People also kept some very strange pets in the past, your jaguar mention reminded me that I recently saw that someone converted part of their house to keep a monkey in the past too. I’m guessing it was in a National Trust article because I can’t figure out where else I’d have read such a thing.
Yes, you can definitely still enjoy this book without being a football fan. It’s really just as much a story about friendship and feminism as it is about football. And yes, people did have some unusual pets, didn’t they? I think a jaguar must be one of the strangest, but I wouldn’t personally want to have a monkey in the house either!
I was able to buy this at the Waterstone’s in Dublin and am looking forward to it!
I think you’ll enjoy it! I hope you had a good time in Dublin.
Glad you enjoyed this, even though you had some issues with it. 😊
I loved it overall but I thought it was a shame we only got to know a few of the lady footballers.
This has a great title and seems like a really interesting read!
Thank you for sharing your review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Yes, I love the title!