It’s always interesting to see, when watching ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, a popular TV programme which discovers the family history behind well-known TV personalities, how many of the celebrities have links to ancestors who are sometimes famous themselves or have interesting stories. During Covid, I was
tempted to research my own family tree. Using a website, after quizzing my parents (it was disappointing how little they could remember), I staunchly made my way through birth, death and marriage certificates and censuses. Nothing too exciting in
my family tree, the expected list of coalminers, labourers, farmhands and domestics. The only thing which tickled my interest was a penchant for using the mother’s maiden name as a middle name for the first son. Made us sound rather grand at
least.

In this month’s review, ‘Freeborn Girls’ by Sally Keeble, published by Eleanor Press, in February, an American intern, Stephanie, comes to England with the plan of researching into English story of the distant ancestor who travelled to America during the English Civil War. The book jumps between this period and modern-day London, where MP Frances Quilter is fighting fires on multiple fronts. Frances is distracted from affairs of state by affairs of the heart: a racy new love affair and the demands of her ailing lover. When trouble hits her south London constituency, she fatally misjudges the public mood and
disaster looms. Stephanie has arrived as an intern for her but has her own agenda, to track down the truth about her ancestor, Elizabeth, who was torn from her farming life and transported to America during the English civil war. What becomes of Elizabeth, can Frances salvage her career or her love life and how does Stephanie
fit in?

This book follows a couple of distinct threads. We hear Frances’ present-day story, interspersed with looking back at Elizabeth’s story. Each story was gripping and could have easily been expanded on and stood alone. My favourite was Elizabeth’s story which combined history, politics, accusations of witchcraft, and desperation with an element of adventure. Elizabeth was a likeable heroine. Frances’ story gave
great insights into the workings and failings in government, the behind-the-scenes machinations and the difficulties in remaining true to one’s own ideals and ethics.

This English author and former MP Sally Keeble’s (https://www.sallykeeblebooks.com/), second novel, after her 2023 debut ‘She,You,I’. She’s also written one previous work of non-fiction, in 1995, titled ‘Conceiving Your baby: How Medicine Can help’. She spent her early years in the USA, Switzerland and Australia, returning to the UK after working as a journalist in South Africa. After serving as an MP in the UK, she worked in international development and travelled widely, especially in Asia and
Africa. Now she splits her time between Northampton and Suffolk.

I personally felt that the counterpart story would have been better told from Stephanie’s viewpoint. As the back blurb asks, I wasn’t sure how Stephanie fitted in! Whilst I found Frances’ story interesting, it often felt like a different book. Seeing both stories unravel through Stephanie’s eyes might have made them feel more linked. I never really got how Frances was fighting for her freedom. The people in the flats,
fighting for their homes would have had more parallels to Elizabeth in my opinion.

I did enjoy reading this book and would recommend it to those friends interested in both history and politics.

Reviewed by : Georgina Murphy

This review is part of a Random Things Blog Tour, to see what the other reviewers thought, visit their blogs listed below. Then, if you get a copy, come back and tell us what you thought. We’d really appreciate the feedback.