Mollie on the March

Mollie is an irrepressible character, at fourteen an enthusiastic suffragette in Dublin.  When it is announced that Mr. Asquith, the Prime Minister is paying a visit to the city, Mollie and her friend Nora are determined to be part of any action taken by the movement.  Unfortunately Mollie’s elder sister Phyllis has other ideas and is only persuaded to let them help when she hears about their painting of a post box, which happened in the first book, The Making of Mollie.  The girls put their hair up at the back of a friendly shop and change into long skirts and heels and join the protest from the private room hired for the occasion.  They are raided by the police but make it home undiscovered and decide to go to the open meeting held by the Suffragettes.  This however is a much darker affair and results in Phyllis nearly being thrown into the River Liffey.  Mollie and Nora live to fight another day for their cause.

This story is told in a series of letters sent to Mollie’s friend Frances who has gone to America and therefore missing all the action.  The letters are lively and funny and relate not just to the activities of the two young suffragettes, but also their family life, the visit of cousin Grace who is very disliked, and the difficulties of older sisters and brothers and a younger sister who prays a lot!  What is missing is a real sense of period, particularly in the use of language.  ‘You’re welcome’ is not a phrase used in 1912, and young girls and young women would have been more closely supervised, for example.  But Mollie’s sense of fun, and light hearted attitude to life win the day for the reader and girls of 12+ will really enjoy this story of young suffragettes in an unfamiliar setting, reminding them that suffragettes were not found only in London.