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The Best Of Daughters de Dilly Court
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The Best Of Daughters

de Dilly Court

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Despite her privileged upbringing, Daisy Lennox has always longed to make something of her life. She is drawn to the suffragette movement, but when her father faces ruin they are forced to move to the country and Daisy's first duty is to her family. Here she becomes engaged to her childhood friend - a union both families have dreamed of. But, on the eve of their wedding, war is declared, and Daisy knows her life will never be the same again...… (més)
Membre:MairehauLibrary
Títol:The Best Of Daughters
Autors:Dilly Court
Informació:Arrow Books
Col·leccions:Current Fiction, La teva biblioteca
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The Best of Daughters de Dilly Court

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Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

This novel is an exploration of the meaning of character, and how upbringing, companions, and circumstance influence people’s attitudes. Historical fiction’s strength is in how the themes reflect the book’s time period. The early 1900s in England continued the shift from a separation of noble and common born based on land ownership to recognition of skills and wealth with no ties to the landholders. Those entering the military during World War I helped with this change because enemy fire doesn’t care about social standing. The suffragette movement also rose to prominence. I think this novel successfully portrayed the mix of people who were changing, learning to change, and resisting the expansion of their social ties.

Daisy, the main character, represents both those changed and resisting. She is from the wealthy financial class and grew up alongside the local lord’s son. Her support of suffragettes makes her cross class lines on the other side, befriending Ruby from the poor part of London.

Her attitudes are not as egalitarian as you might suppose, however, illustrating the complexity of early 20th Century class politics well. This is never clearer than with Bowman. Daisy dismisses him as a local handyman, and therefore incompetent, even when her noble friend sings the man’s praises. Things get more complicated when she faces her physical reaction to this man and the problems it causes.

I don’t want to give away the plot threads around each character, but I’ll provide a teaser. The book brings World War I to life from both the volunteer nurses’ and soldiers’ perspectives. It explores bravery and cowardice, moral character, and love and lust. Only kissing occurs on screen, with thought and implication revealing the rest. Still, the dangers of passion are very real while different consequences apply based on gender and position. We gain enjoyable and illuminating insights from how the characters handle various circumstances.

The book has its dark moments, and the main characters don’t always do the right thing, but I came to know them enough to understand even their bad choices. Daisy’s need to be useful puts her in the middle of first the suffragettes and then the war itself. The description of wartime makes the costs clear, and not just on the front lines, without dwelling on the gory aspects. The story explores the power of grief both for those left at home and from the aftereffects of traumatic injury (mental and/or physical). Nor is war the only suffering with consequences raised. The conditions of the lower classes, the treatment of suffragettes, and the aftermath of thievery hold a place within the many plot threads.

I know nothing of the suffragette movement in England, but the author talks about her research into this and WWI, suggesting resources to learn more. Her portrayal feels true to the early 1900s, and Daisy’s understanding of the suffragettes is compelling even if she doesn’t agree with all steps taken in the movement’s name. The portrayal of nursing and a woman’s role in wartime is my favorite part of the novel in a lot of ways. There were a few modern phrases, but not enough to throw me out of the historical period.

Daisy grows into her own person through the events in the novel, and this growth offers a main plot to tie all the others into a coherent whole. She learns the difference between infatuation and love, how emotions can mature, and how to value people for who they are rather than her expectations of them. Her journey gives us a brilliant view of the many forces pulling at the lives and fabric of society in the early 20th Century. Her search for purpose thrusts Daisy into the forefront of events that helped shape this time. She does not stand separate. These events impact Daisy and those she cares about, making them affect us, too.

The novel is an epic story about how people are their own worst impediments as well as the horrors of World War I. It’s petty at times, and selfish, then powerful and generous to an extreme. This is a people story of a complicated era where social change destabilized the existing order and war tore everything apart. Sometimes I despaired of Daisy’s choices, only to recognize the necessity of these steps in her life journey later.

The characters have many layers, not all of them good, making them complex and interesting. Not every plot thread has the strength of the nursing and war ones, but neither are they straightforward, even when they might appear simple at first. Also, the romance thread, while not the main one, has elements of a second chances story, a favorite trope of mine. There’s a lot to absorb in The Best of Daughters, and I enjoyed my time among the characters. A solid work of historical fiction focused on the role women played in society and World War I.

P.S. I received this title from the publisher through NetGalley some time ago, then lost it for a bit because of device failure. I am giving my honest opinion now because a novel rarely grows stale. ( )
  MarFisk | Oct 1, 2020 |
Posting the 2nd book review in this March series for
Women's History Month -
For this story, we enter the era leading up to, then WWI itself. Author Dilly Court paints main character,
Daisy Lennox, as a strong willed young woman unwilling to settle for the status quo. Her interest in the suffragettes is just the first of unusual involvements Daisy pursues. Her sense of justice
informs her life decisions and path she chooses. Well drawn and well researched,Dilly Court, reveals unique moments in Women's History.

My Thoughts?

Likeability of our MC, Daisy Lennox, is established early on in this story.
Her attitudes and actions to those less fortunate are skillfully contrasted with the stiffly ruled and regulated uppercrust of her mother's society. Daisy's adventurous spirit in
willingly assisting a young suffragette ends in a misadventure that entwines the two for the rest of the novel.
A saga covering a lengthy time span from 1912 to 1917.

Daisy's discontent with the status quo leads her to pursue involvement, first with the suffragette movement - highly criticized for their use of vandalism - followed by introduction to the FANYS. Organized for women to train as nurses for the unwanted yet inevitable WWI, Daisy finds purpose beyond the expected round of socializing, partying, and entertaining of a woman of her societal class.

When it is realized her father's business partner has absconded with the profits,the family is reduced to selling their London property, liquidating assets,and relocating to their rural summer home. Which just happens to neighbour lifelong family friends' property. An advantageous move for the family finances in general,
for Daisy in particular. And for Daisy's young suffragette friend, who is hired as maid of all work.

For Daisy it's a direct connection with her childhood friend who wants more than friendship. The rest of the story unfolds beautifully for the remainder of the novel.

Court has a particular warmth in her writing style - a caring for the characters - that kept me involved through tragedy and triumph. War descriptions preceding, during, and following, are authentic and emotionally involving.
Particulars of this period of history are well researched. As is the wealth of information on the FANYS written into the story without any sense of documentary.

It is an excellent story of love's endurance and redemption.
Important topics of marriage, class distinctions, romantic and familial relationships,pregnancy, wartime, and personal values, are written with serious consideration.
My appreciation to Dilly Court for sharing her creation of Daisy's story with us.
*

*Appreciation to RandomHouse UK-North America for providing an ecopy for reading and reviews without compensation or obligation.

Original review posted at FAITH HOPE & CHERRYTEA blog ( )
  FHC | Jun 22, 2014 |
It's always a delight to be introduced to a new author and then to fall in love with the way that author writes. I knew nothing about Dilly Court before I accepted two of her novels for review but I now know that if any more come my way I won't be able to say yes fast enough. I had sworn off WWI and WWII novels for a bit - having read too many of them in a row - but I was sufficiently intrigued by the synopses to want to read The Best of Daughters. Hooray for breaking promises to oneself.

In this book the reader meets Daisy Lennox, a young woman who is fighting with the suffragettes because she feels that there is more to her life as a woman than just being a wife and mother. If her parents find out though, she knows she will be in more trouble than she has ever known. They want her to marry her childhood friend and settle down.

As Daisy struggles to find herself, she learns that her father's partner has absconded with all of the firm's money and the family is forced to give up its upper class lifestyle and move to the country. Daisy's mother struggles with the comedown and thinks the ONLY way out is for Daisy to marry money and to do it quickly. Daisy does get engaged but it's not for love and then the world goes upside down as WWI begins.

What follows is a story of love, sacrifice, loss and great learning for Daisy and her family. Ms. Court has a writing style that makes it very hard to put the book down once you start - I again find myself aggravated that I am reading this book at a time when I cannot just sit and READ! I was so very involved in the lives of the Lennox family and of Daisy's fellow nurses. It was one of those books where I was shaking my head when I came out of reading because the return to reality was both a disappointment and a bit of a shock. The Best of Daughters is not overly complicated, the writing is not flowery. The character development is exceptional and I'm very glad that I have a new favorite author. ( )
  BooksCooksLooks | Sep 19, 2013 |
Opening in 1912, this novel follows Daisy Lennox, a grounded young woman from a wealthy family who chafes at her mother's Victorian sentiments and ceaseless criticisms. Newly involved in the suffrage movement, Daisy befriends a working class girl, Ruby, after clubbing a police officer with her parasol when Ruby is being beaten with a truncheon at a suffrage protest. What scandal comes of Daisy's action -- her assault is photographed and published in the newspaper -- is forgotten in light of a greater tragedy: the complete loss of the family's fortune due to a criminal act.

Nearly penniless, the Lennoxes move to their summer home, a small country house that borders the family seat of the Pendleton family. The Pendletons are long friends with the Lennoxes -- Rupert, the Pendleton heir, is close friends to Daisy and her brother Teddy, and matriarchs from both families fancy a marriage between Daisy and Rupert. Rupert even seems to to want it, while Daisy finds herself smitten by the village's bad boy handyman, Barnaby Bowman. Worse, Ruby, now established in the Lennox house as a maid, is involved with Bowman as well, and out of confusion, Daisy agrees to marry Rupert -- but war is declared before the ceremony can happen. (This all occurs in the first 80 pages or so; the novel is 480 pages!) Daisy finally gets her chances at independence when she joins the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, and she soon finds herself in Belgium as she, the Lennoxes, and all of Britian struggles with the changes wrought by the war.

While I initially was all swoons with this book -- I thought it was going to be a Philip Rock-like novel of World War I, only more from the viewpoint of the women -- it really is more of a Hallmark movie kind treatment. While there's tension, drama, a love triangle, everything is fairly sanitized, and in the end, the good get their happily ever afters and the villain is humanely punished. This isn't a bad thing: sometimes you want a BBC costume drama without the gut wrenching reality of war, and this book feels super British, has war drama and war death but not war angst, and some romantic entanglements without embarrassing sex scenes.

I quite liked Daisy, although she did border on (or, let's be real, cross over to) Mary Sue territory, but I enjoyed her tight friendship with Ruby. Even though they don't quite pass the Bechdel test, their mutual desires for the same man never threatens their friendship, amazingly, and both act with grace, kindness, and aplomb throughout the book.

Despite the length, this book raced, helped by Court's willingness to zoom through long expanses of wartime (whole seasons pass by in a mere few paragraphs). The final wrap up was a little too quick for my liking, but was satisfying -- no loose ends! -- and was a lovely introduction to this new-to-me author. Fans of World War I stories, riches-to-rags-to-independence narrative arcs, and Anglophiles will enjoy this light but fun read. ( )
  unabridgedchick | Sep 5, 2013 |
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Despite her privileged upbringing, Daisy Lennox has always longed to make something of her life. She is drawn to the suffragette movement, but when her father faces ruin they are forced to move to the country and Daisy's first duty is to her family. Here she becomes engaged to her childhood friend - a union both families have dreamed of. But, on the eve of their wedding, war is declared, and Daisy knows her life will never be the same again...

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