Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the Book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Aug 2005, 352 pages
Paperback:
Jun 2006, 368 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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This article relates to Pardonable Lies
The Series so
far
Maisie Dobbs (2003)
Birds of a Feather (2004)
Pardonable Lies (2005)
Messenger of Truth (Aug 2006)
The year is
1930 and it's been more than a
year since Maisie Dobbs first
hung up her shingle as a private
investigator She is a
perceptive observer of human
nature and, most important for
her line of work, she is able to
move smoothly between the
classes - a useful skill
in the still highly class-stratified
England of the inter-war period.
Her ability in this area is due
to the fact that she was born in
Lambeth, a then poor part of
London and went into service at
the age of 14. However, it wasn't long
before her employer, and soon to
be benefactor, Lady Rowan,
recognized that her new maid was
a very bright girl and
arranged for her to be tutored.
Four years later she won a place
to Girton College, Cambridge.
However, after only a year
Maisie, following the call of
duty, left to train as a nurse
and was soon posted to a
casualty clearing station in
France where she spent a number
of grueling years. It's
been more than a decade since
the end of the "war to end all
wars" but the impact on Britain
and its people is still being
felt strongly in every corner of
life, not least of which in
Maisie's own life.
To discover more about the time period, the character of Maisie Dobbs and what led Winspear to write the series, read her
interview at BookBrowse.
This "beyond the book article" relates to Pardonable Lies. It originally ran in August 2005 and has been updated for the
June 2006 paperback edition.
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