COMING out on July 6, this upcoming spy novel is filled with not only the expected daring adventure but all the mischievous charm of classic girls boarding school stories such as Malory Towers.
Set in the summer of 1940, it considers the quieter but deeply relevant and vital perspective on the Second World War, that of those dealing with the threats and challenges at home, in this case, underestimated but immensely bright young women.
Tying in historical events and references, Helen Peters crafts a fictional reflection on young lives at the time, taking in topics such as the impacts of class and the grave dangers posed to any country at risk of fascism in a way that will engage young readers.
This has the benefit of not only sparking or furthering an interest in history and an empathy for its tragedy, but of course, a hopefulness with determined role models in its main characters, Nancy and Sidney, as different as they may be!
Nancy, who despite her intelligence is unable to afford a high-quality education, is forced to confront the young women who take such an education for granted when she’s hired to work in a wealthy country estate which will be partially used to host a girls’ boarding school in need of a place to go in the summer.
In befriending the other housemaids and cooks, she takes an instant dislike to the often snobby and cruel girls now living there, but is amazed to see her idol, famous female race-car driver Dorothy Taylor as a guest.
Sidney, meanwhile, is a new student at the school moving into the house and quickly comes to despise the girls she is forced to room with, who either actively exclude and bully her or do very little to stop it, and feels she has no friends in this place, especially not the fiery housemaid they often run into.
However, in switching perspectives, Nancy and Sidney’s intertwining stories soon escalate from polishing tables and pranks after dinner as they each stumble across more and more information which makes them suspicious of the man who owns the Stanbrook house, Lord Evesham.
With hints toward his alignment with the Nazis, the girls, whose brothers are both at war, are horrified that if their suspicions are right it could mean great danger for Britain.
With Sidney seen as little more than an ineffectual rich girl with an overactive imagination, and Nancy as a defiant troublemaker at worst and an invisible housemaid at best, these two unlikely friends realise they only have each other.
At the centre of their fast-paced adventures is the tangible and never-dismissed economic differences between their lifestyles alongside their emotional similarities.
Behind the backs of those who would never believe they could do it, they work to uncover the secrets of Stanbrook and the elusive Lord Evesham, having the reader root for the charismatic schoolgirl and housemaid.
