In 1920 Oxford University broke a 1000-year tradition by allowing women to matriculate for the first time. THE EIGHTS, by Joanna Miller, tells the story of four of these women. They became known as The Eights simply because each occupied a room on Corridor 8 of their dormitory. Would they have even met if they hadn't been placed by chance? Not likely. Each with her own reasons for enrolling, they share some commonalities. Another thing they share is that they have secrets. They want equality and to be known for more than their gender.
While this book is a work of historical fiction, it is based on actual events. The four women are so well presented they become very real to readers. Dora, having lost both her brother and fiancé to the war enrolls to represent them. Beatrice has lived in the shadow of her famous suffragette mother all her life. She sees Oxford as a path to independence and to making friends. Otto, a daughter of privilege, is looking for a way to escape the haunting memories of what she saw during the war. Marianne, the daughter of a pastor, had perhaps the most complicated history and a shocking secret. One she must keep if she hopes to achieve her goals.
While this is a story of the bonds that can come with meaningful friendships, it is also a story about the misogyny and contempt these women had to deal with in a world changed forever by WWI.
Impeccably researched and eloquently told, THE EIGHTS is steeped in rich history and brings to light a very important time in history. Highly recommended.
They knew they were changing history. They didn’t know they would change each other.
Following the unlikely friendship of four women in the first female class at Oxford, their unshakeable bond in the face of male contempt, and their coming of age in a world forever changed by World War I, a captivating debut about sisterhood, determination, and courage.
“Entertaining and moving…I came to love these four women as though they were my sisters.”—TRACY CHEVALIER, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its one-thousand-year history, Oxford University officially admits female students. Burning with dreams of equality, four young women move into neighboring rooms in Corridor 8. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne, and Otto—collectively known as The Eights—come from all walks of life, each driven by their own motives, each holding tight to their secrets, and are thrown into an unlikely, unshakable friendship.
Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Politically-minded Beatrice, daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way - and some friends her own age. Otto was a nurse during the war but is excited to return to her socialite lifestyle in Oxford where she hopes to find distraction from the memories that haunt her. And finally Marianne, the quiet, clever daughter of a village pastor, who has a shocking secret she must hide from everyone, even her new friends, if she is to succeed.
Among the historic spires, and in the long shadow of the Great War, the four women must navigate and support one another in a turbulent world in which misogyny is rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War don’t always remain dead.
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