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From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Maisie is 14 when her mother dies, and she must go into service to help her father make ends meet. Her prodigious intellect and the fact that she is sneaking into the manor library at night to read Hume, Kierkegaard, and Jung alert Lady Rowan to the fact that she has an unusual maid. She arranges for Maisie to be tutored, and the girl ultimately qualifies for Cambridge. She goes for a year, only to be drawn by the need for nurses during the Great War. After serving a grueling few years in France and falling in love with a young doctor, Maisie puts up a shingle in 1929 as a private investigator. She is a perceptive observer of human nature, works well with all classes, and understands the motivations and demons prevalent in postwar England. Teens will be drawn in by her first big case, seemingly a simple one of infidelity, but leading to a complex examination of an almost cultlike situation. The impact of the war on the country is vividly conveyed. A strong protagonist and a lively sense of time and place carry readers along, and the details lead to further thought and understanding about the futility and horror of war, as well as a desire to hear more of Maisie. This is the beginning of a series, and a propitious one at that.
Susan H. Woodcock, Fairfax County Public Library, Chantilly, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Susan H. Woodcock, Fairfax County Public Library, Chantilly, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
'Readers sensing a story-within-a-story won't be disappointed. But first, they must prepare to be astonished at the sensitivity and wisdom with which Maisie resolves her first professional assignment' -- New York Times 'A fine new sleuth for the twenty-first century. Simultaneously self-reliant and vulnerable, Maisie isn't a character I'll easily forget' -- Elizabeth George 'The book is much more than a cosy mystery - it is also about women's growing emancipation and the profound changes to society after the First World War.' -- Mail on Sunday's You 20050403
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
Even if she hadn't been the last person to walk through the turnstile at Warren Street tube station, Jack Barker would have noticed the tall, slender woman in the navy blue, thigh-length jacket with a matching pleated skirt short enough to reveal a well-turned ankle. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Even if she hadn't been the last person to walk through the turnstile at Warren Street tube station, Jack Barker would have noticed the tall, slender woman in the navy blue, thigh-length jacket with a matching pleated skirt short enough to reveal a well-turned ankle. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Whoosa, this is a good one, says Kat from Readerville.com,
By KatPanama "katpanama" (Readerville) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Maisie Dobbs (Hardcover)
The eponymous character is an anomaly of the time (housemaid made good so to speak) who, with the help of the kindly bourgeoisie, transcends her humble birth to become a psychologist-detective with experience as a nurse in WWI, a tragic lost love, schooling at Cambridge/Girton (before women were able to attain degrees) and so on. There's a mystery here, too, but mostly the story is Maisie's and she's terrific.The prose is redolent of its place and time and, even though Maisie may be a revisionist, she's most refreshingly wonderful if too pure and serious. Can't wait for the next Maisie mystery.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good lead, great minor characters!,
By Dave Schwinghammer "Dave Schwinghammer" (Little Falls, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Maisie Dobbs (Paperback)
MAISIE DOBBS is written in three parts. In the first part, Maisie is setting up shop as a private investigator. A man hires Maisie Dobbs to follow his wife, who he thinks is cheating on him. She follows this woman to a graveyard where she stands over the grave of a man named Victor, just Victor. Maisie finds out from the caretaker that this man was a war veteran whose face had been hideously defiled. There are other graves in the graveyard without a surname and Maisie is suspicious.The second part is flashback. We see Maisie rise from a maid, to a student at Cambridge, then a WWI nurse. We see her getting up at three in the morning to read the books in her employer's library. When she is discovered, rather than fire her, her employer takes her under her wing to assure her an education. In the third section we return to Maisie's investigation of a suspicious farm called The Refuge which had been formed as a haven for WWI veterans who had been deformed in battle. Although sometimes over-earnest with a plot line that's a bit too convenient, Maisie Dobbs is a worthwhile read. The likeable lead, the setting, and the theme of soldiers with little to live for kept me turning the pages with relish. Jacqueline Winspear is also smart enough to keep you guessing about what happened to Maisie's doctor lover right up until the end. The book is also peppered with enjoyable minor characters that help round out the personality of our Maisie.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bravo and Hip-Hip!,
By eduardo "bronx49er" (Massapequa, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Maisie Dobbs (Hardcover)
This book was nominated by the Edgar and Agatha Committees for the simple reason that it's worthy of a nomination. Very well-written and plotted, with a reminder of Anne Perry's Thomas Pitt novels where a member of London's high society is quite helpful to some in the lower classes.As a backdrop, it furnishes the devastating effect of World War I on England, before, during, and especially after the 'Great War'. The characters, especially Maisie, are well-delineated, the surprise being that so much can be written and accomplished in but a relatively short book. And yes, there is a mystery, not in the gory bang-you're-dead manner, but in a civilized manner, one relevant to the horror of the War and its lasting effect on individuals, families, and society itself.
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