I\u2019d read a Daisy Dalrymple novel a couple of years ago (after she was married) before I started this blog\/knew she was a series, and I didn\u2019t really like the mystery I read, so I\u2019ve stayed away from her books. For some reason, I kept getting her confused with Maisie Dobbs, which is why I hadn\u2019t picked up Maisie until this point (I guess Maisie\/Daisy and Dalrymple\/Dobbs were similar enough sounding names, in my head). After a couple of pages into this novel, I knew that was a mistake!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d say about 60% of Maisie Dobbs<\/em> is spent learning about Maisie\u2019s life before and during WWI. We learn about her childhood, adolescence, and service as a nurse. Her path to becoming an investigator is really interesting, and I won\u2019t say much about it so I don’t give anything away! Even without the mystery in real-time in this book, Maisie\u2019s past was a fascinating read. The real-time mystery surrounds mysterious deaths at a place called The Retreat, where grievously injured soldiers congregate in a community where they avoid the uncomfortable stares and sympathy of the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I really<\/em> enjoyed this novel. Winspear’s writing through Maisie’s eyes is heart-wrenching, and she has a real talent for conveying really deep emotions without as many words. I wouldn’t describe this novel as being an emotional roller coaster, but readers can certainly enjoy both the high and low moments with sincerity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not old enough to have lived through any major wars, and I cannot imagine the dedication and the hardship that was required of the British citizens (rationing, knitting, volunteering time and supplies, etc.). Maisie\u2019s decision to leave university and go over to France with the red cross to nurse was incredibly brave, but it also embodied the level of sacrificial patriotism that Britain (and the other countries, of course) displayed throughout the war.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her investigation at the retreat stirs up a lot of memories for Maisie; she meets someone whose life she saved during the war, she relives some of her nursing experience dealing with the injuries at the retreat, and confronts someone who\u2019s dealing with the all-too-real grief of losing a love as a casualty of war. She handles it with aplomb, but it does make for a more emotional read than you\u2019d expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was expecting Maisie to be a cozier read than she was – again, because I was thinking about Daisy Dalrymple – which was totally fine with me. I like a little more depth to my characters, although I do enjoy cozies as well. Masie was so interesting to read about; her detecting skills have been finely honed by her mentor, and she takes a logical, sensible, and emotionally sensitive approach to investigating. I feel that this allows people to confide in her, and also for her to empathize with her clients and other people that she interacts with. All in all, I found this book totally absorbing and am looking forward to starting the next one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019d read a Daisy Dalrymple novel a couple of years ago (after she was married) before I started this blog\/knew she was a series, and I didn\u2019t really like the mystery I read, so I\u2019ve stayed away from her books. For some reason, I kept getting her confused with Maisie Dobbs, which is why IContinue reading “Maisie Dobbs – Jacqueline Winspear”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[123,165,191,250,456],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-english-mystery","tag-historical-mystery","tag-jacqueline-winspear","tag-maisie-dobbs","tag-wwi","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/maisie-dobbs.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":649,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions\/649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}