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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
A murder at an academic institution; the political context involves 1930s fascism and pacifism
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Barely any
Mild content
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The historical irony of a peace movement in the years before a war that the peaceable people around Maisie cannot yet see coming; her position as someone who has already been through one war
What this book is about
Maisie Dobbs is asked to go undercover at a Cambridge college that is known for its pacifist curriculum and is attracting concern in government circles. She is to observe and report — but when a member of the faculty is murdered, the observation becomes an investigation. Jacqueline Winspear's eighth Maisie Dobbs novel is the most explicitly political of the series, set in the early 1930s as fascism is rising in Europe and England's peace movement is finding its limits — and Maisie has to navigate a world where the politics she's investigating will shape the decade to come.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
eighth Maisie Dobbs novel by Jacqueline Winspear; most politically focused entry
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