As someone (just about) too young to remember Greenham and the 1980s panic about nuclear war – and thank goodness as I’d have been rightfully terrified – I was keen to read this novel to find out more.
This book tells the story of 15 year old Bridget, a girl struggling with her own identity and family issues, who finds herself in the anti-war, all-female protest camps at Greenham Common. Through her journey, we meet lots of other women fighting their own battles, including Bridget’s own mother.
A few things really struck me when I was reading this novel – firstly, a sense of the sisterhood of the women at Greenham, but also how this shifted towards a more fragmented and intersectional feminism as time passed. The unity of the women was joyful, but it was interesting how issues of race and class crept in to give as sense of disharmony at times, which I guess is more realistic. The other thing was a sense that the 1980s was an alien world! In a world without the internet and mobile phones (Bridget’s whole presence at Greenham is caused by a forged permission letter for a school trip – much less likely to happen now!), life seems at once simpler and harder. Ansthruther presents the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain well and I felt little jolts of recognition at times.
I enjoyed the book, although I did feel like some of the narratives were a bit less seamlessly woven into the novel than others – Bridget’s dad’s storyline and presentation as a conflicted character are interesting but felt a bit less authentic compared with the scenes at Greenham. I also wanted to know more about the women of Greenham – there were quite a few that I came to recognise by name but not know or remember much about.
I’d recommend this to people interested in historical fiction (as much as I don’t like to think of the 80s as historical!), and especially those interested in women’s history. The story of the women from different backgrounds and walks of life who came together at Greenham is inspiring and engaging and a fascinating basis for a novel.
I received a free review copy of this book from NetGalley – opinions, as always, are entirely mine.
Thanks to Kilian Karger on Unsplash for the header photo.
