Rachel Malik

Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves is a beautiful, gentle story with characters who were real people, in fact Miss Hargreaves is the author's maternal grandmother. I love stories that have a nugget of truth in them, however small the nugget may be. Rachel Malik came up with the idea for the book when she decided to find out more information about the elusive Miss Hargreaves, and what a beautiful story she has created from so very little information. Aside from the few facts stated in the Historical Note, we are reminded that Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves is ultimately a work of fiction.

I found it a refreshing change to have a book set during World War II which shows us the war from the perspective of the farmers and the countryside. There are no bombs and air raid shelters, although they might see a passing aircraft that has veered off course. With the men away to war, help on the land arrived in the form of land girls. Rene Hargreaves is allocated to Starlight Farm, owned by Elsie Boston. The pair get on so well that they naturally become good friends, but Rene is weighed down by secrets that threaten her new life in the countryside. We all know that secrets don't stay hidden for long in books, and Rene is about to see some devastating consequences when her past and present collide.

Like life in the country, the pacing is quite slow so it did take me a while to get into the book. I think it really livened up when Ernest came to live with the ladies, although he was like a naughty child leaving his sticky fingerprints everywhere. It did make me chuckle imagining him eating and drinking Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves out of house and home.

The whole story becomes more poignant when you read the Historical Note at the end as Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves evolve from 'characters' to 'people'. I didn't know until I read this that it was based on real people and it certainly made me pause for thought at the turn of events in the book. I think this would make a great book to ponder over with friends at book club; the quality of Rachel Malik's writing is very impressive, she has such an amazing attention to detail that enables her to draw beautiful pictures with her words. Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves is a beautiful, moving and impeccable debut.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.… (mere)

This is one of those books where there's a lot going on, but a lot of it is unsaid, the action is all going on just under the surface. At face value this is a book about two women who find themselves teaming up, almost against the world until something comes to tear the world they have so carefully constructed apart. It starts unpromisingly enough, Miss Boston (Elsie) is the owner of Starlight Farm, having bene one of several siblings, all of whom have died, or married and moved away (although I'm still not entirely clear what happened to Moira), leaving Elsie to struggle on as best she can. It's also clear that she's not exactly in tip top condition in the head, something on the Autism spectrum seems possible, she's bright but went to pieces in the exams and has trouble relating to and communicating with people. It's early in WW2 and she's finally accepted that she needs some help, and has been allocated a Land Girl. Enter Miss Hargreaves (Rene, for now). She, too, has a past that's not simple to explain. And so they both have something to want to hide from the world. In each other they find something of what they are missing, Rene deals with the people who come to call while Elsie deals with the animals and garden. It is a division of labours that makes them mutually supportive together they are stronger than they are apart. In the face of their growing reliance on each other, the world again intervenes. In the midst of WW2 there is a need to make sure that land is being used efficiently, and Starlight is assessed as failing by the local Land Committee. Not on the basis of fact, you are to understand, but as a result of prejudice to an incoming family and a woman farmer. As a result, they sell up and begin a more precarious life, as labourers, traveling around the country looking for work and accommodation on various farms. And yet they can't leave the past behind them, it returns to intervene once more.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. It is quite understated and restrained, yet manages to leave the impression of being a love story without ever once having used expressions of love.… (mere)

Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves is highly recommended, I hope that lots of people find this novel.
"As she stood watching the board, there was a sudden outbreak of clickety-clacks and times and places began to disappear. For some minutes there was nowhere; everything seemed suspended; odd strings of letters flittered across the board and the tiles clicked as one departure after another was spun away. The ripples of sound grew quieter and louder as journeys moved along the board; others appeared from nowhere. Rene held her breath, finally the clickety-clacks slowed and stilled, and she saw the train to Penzance again – it had moved..."
Rene and Elsie meet when Ryene comes to work for Elsie as a land girl during WW2. Elsie loses her farm due to 'efficiency' measures (read local scepticism about a small female only farm) and they start travelling as workers all over the country. Things are hard but manageable until they have to care for a family member with dementia. I thought this book was really unusually structured, which the epilogue explains. The book is full of lovely descriptions of living in the countryside: birdcalls, muddy walks and farm animals.
"The kingfisher, always promised by the tour-boat captain but rarely seen, chose this day to appear. Flitting close by Rene and Elsie, apparently casual, he stabbed at the water and disappeared, reappearing, moments later, with a silver, shiny fish."

There is also a creeping sense of insecurity, done very well, showing the prejudices of the time and how couples tried to live anonymously under the official gaze.… (mere)

I think there is something very appealing about books with the names of the characters in the title. Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves spoke to me of the people within, it made me curious as to what their story would be.

Elsie Boston lives at Starlight and runs the farm there single-handedly. It's wartime and she is under more scrutiny because of the importance of farms during that period. She takes on a land girl, Miss Hargreaves, who is less a girl than a woman, with quite a back story. This character is based on the author's own grandmother, a story which is fascinating.

Over 20-30 years these two women form a strong alliance, one that we are left to draw our own conclusions about. It's a touching relationship, a happy friendship. Until something quite shocking happens to shake their very existence, something that I could never have imagined would happen.

This is a gentle, touching, yet surprising tale. So much is implied in the writing, and yet I thought it was quite easy to know just what was implied. This is a testament to Malik's writing style that she was able to achieve this.

I don't think this is a book that should be rushed, indeed it cannot be rushed. Given that it's under 300 pages I was expecting to finish it a little quicker than I did but I just couldn't plough through it and needed to give it the time it deserved.

I think I most of all enjoyed reading about the day to day lives of these ladies. They didn't have much but they made the most of what they did have and lived a simple existence. Until all of a sudden they are forced to share their private lives with the world. The final third or so of the book is set around a trial in Winchester and is slightly different in pace, for both the characters and the reader.

I enjoyed this book for the most part and found it very interesting and very well-written. Every now and then my interest waned slightly - perhaps the detail was a little bit much or it was a little too gentle for my tastes. Overall, though, it's a lovely tender love story and a very accomplished debut for Rachel Malik.… (mere)