A New Path to Follow
This family saga follows the four Barsham children, whose lives are thrown off course at the start of the First World War in 1914. James enlists, determined to do his bit for his country. Heir to the estate, Ned, is a conscientious objector who joins an ambulance crew to avoid local criticism. Millie joins the VAD and becomes a nurse, and Gina remains at home to deal with her obtuse and vacuous mother, who refuses to recognise that the outside world and the upstairs-downstairs world are changing. Gina opens a soup kitchen for women whose children are on the point of starvation. Polly, Lady Barsham’s maid, is run off her feet by the loss of estate staff, but she is sustained by her secret love for James, although she knows he can never marry her. She and her mother are pivotal to the success of the soup-kitchen, which becomes much more as the novel progresses.
Covering the years 1914 to 1920, Jeffrey’s novel is a damning indictment of the British government. We meet women whose husbands suffer critical injury and are unable to work, we meet widows and shell-shocked men—and we are privy to a government which fails to pay wages, separation allowances and pensions, resulting in widespread starvation for families who have lost the major breadwinner. Jeffrey illuminates other aspects of life that thousands must have dealt with during this turbulent time: the danger to factory workers from chemicals used to make weapons; the shortage of eligible men after the war; the Spanish flu, to name a few. She speaks to the plight of pregnant unwed girls. Her characters are mostly kind, altruistic people, none of whom emerge from the war unscathed. The narrative keeps up a steady pace, increasing exponentially in the latter half of an inspiring tale of determination and triumph.
