Book Synopsis:
It is the seventies and the colleges of Oxford are finally opening their doors to women. Sarah Addleshaw, young, spirited and keen to prove her worth, begins term as the first female academic at her college. She is in fact, her college’s only female ‘Fellow’
My Review:
The Reading Room is a very intriguing, lovely novel with a fantastic main character.
I found it very interesting to find out more about the famous Oxford University and about daily life there. It seams to be a place full of traditions and some beautiful old buildings. I found Fenella’s descriptions of the traditional university trying to accommodate Sarah, their first female teacher very humourous! As Sarah herself says, they don’t seem quite sure what to do with her!
The Reading party is a fantastic idea and one that I wish had been available at my school as it’s a great way to get to know like minded people. The descriptions of what happens on the trip and the lively conversations that the party have were lovely to read about. It brought back memories of late night study sessions at university for me.
Sarah is a great main character. She’s very strong and doesn’t let being a woman stand in her way. I thought she was very brave being the first woman to work at the university and having to ‘set the standard’ for future females. She doesn’t seem to take things too seriously and is happy to poke fun at herself making her very endearing. I wanted her to do well and succeed so found my self frustrated and wanting to shout at her when I felt things were getting a little inappropriate with the student.
The author’s writing style just flows, drawing the reader into the story and the world of Oxford. She manages to blend humour, history and 70’s nostalgia together perfectly for a fabulously original read.
The Reading Party is Fenella Gentleman’s debut book and I look forward to reading more from her in future. If you like original, intriguing novels full of warmth and humour you will love this book.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater and Muswell Press for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.
About The Author:
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