Set in 1912, this book is focused on the suffragette movement in England, and what methods to employ to gain voting rights for women. The main character is "Frankie" George, a young aspiring newspaper writer, who is assigned to babysit a grande dame (Twinkle) and co-write articles about what women's pedestrian interests. Her editor decides to give a break, to interview and photograph a trapeze artist and suffragette, Ebony Diamond. Then, two close friends of hers are killed and she disappears. One of Ebony's circus friends, Milly, joins Frankie in her search. Milly is by far the most interesting character in the book, as her story and family are tantalizingly revealed. Most of the rest of the characters are pretty flat. Men are poorly portrayed, for the most past, especially the bumbling cops, and way too much time spent describing the clothes worn. ( )

The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester - good

This was a lot of fun.

I kept seeing this recommended by Amazon and when I saw the author was coming to the BookFest coupled with a kindle promotion, I thought 'why not'.

Frankie George is a female in a mans world during the suffragette/pre-war era (It starts with the Titanic and end with Emily Davison). She's ghost-writing a socialite column for a daily newspaper in London. She runs
around town dressed in trousers (heaven forfend!) and with cropped hair and yet she isn't a Suffragette. She's asked to write a piece about Ebony Diamond, a trapeze artist who has spent time in Holloway for her Suffragette actions. She fails in this regard, but is coincidently drawn into murder and intrigue. In parallel with this is Inspector Primrose of the Suffragette Division of Scotland Yard. The murdered woman is also a Suffragette and therefore he is also drawn in. Cue all sorts of adventure with various characters drawn in. I especially liked Twinkle. I have hopes that she's going to make an appearance in whatever the author writes next. You never know, I might even ask her next week, if nobody else does.

The Independent said: "This first offering from the splendidly named Lucy Ribchester is a near-500-page whopper of a novel best described as a suffragette romp with a moral message at its centre."
I have got to agree. ( )

I really wanted to like this book as the premise on the blurb looked like it would be exactly to my tastes. I forgot not to judge a book by its cover. The storyline was pretty much a farce except farce is meant to be funny and this wasn't. I was genuinely very disappointed. ( )