Poppy

With the centenary of World War I it is inevitable that there will be a slew of books set in the period.  Poppy is our heroine; clever enough to go to college but poor enough not to afford to, she is a parlour maid at a big house in Hertfordshire.  When war breaks out she has the opportunity to join the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), and ends up in a hospital in Southampton.

Reading through this book you pick out so much that could be discussion point; the role of women, class, jingoism, changes in medicine.  It is a boon to teachers and reading groups, and I worried that packed with so many issues the storyline could become clunky.  I forgot that it was by Mary Hooper.  What we have is a very readable story with characters that you care about and some that you really don’t like.  The plot moves along with a central love story to leaven the gritty hospital scenes.

The story ends with Poppy asking to be sent to Flanders, where I suspect a few of the other characters will turn up as well.  We have only reached Christmas 1915 so I am expecting much more from our brave and beautiful heroine.