Book: You’ll never see me again
Author:
Lesley Pearse
Genre: Historical Fiction
Year
Published: 2019
Publisher:
Penguin Books Ltd
Review:
It’s amazing to
see how humanity shifts when women choose life on their own terms, neither set
by society nor dictated by keepers of that, as it often leads to greater
empowerment and societal change. I started this book with its mention
somewhere; its name intrigued me to read to find if she really was seen again.
Later I realized there couldn’t have been a better event than Women's Day to
finish off reading the book.
A story
set in the backdrop of the First World War, the stories said and unsaid. We see
a woman rising to her potential, discovering her gifts, and becoming more
resilient by just taking her life in her own hands.
She
chooses freedom not to be favoured but to stand on her feet and see if the
ground can really take her weight. She chooses discretion not to change the
whole world but just her little world. She chooses herself not because she’s
selfish but because she just learned that she matters. She chooses to vote, the
dresses she wears, the colours she dons, where she lives, what job she does,
and who she marries. Just that!
A
mind-blowing story of a woman who simply refuses to give up and carves herself
amidst war, loss, and epidemic through love, service, and faith. By choosing
when and how to respond; healing what needs fixing; walking off from what isn’t
worth her energy; and choosing right and doing right, the author changes the narratives
of a woman by her work. With her fiction character she builds a strong, perseverant
and a compassionate woman who is not likely to fall short by her past but choose
the brighter daylight every while.
And the title
just inherently points to the irony, “you’ll never see her again”, definitely not
the version she builds in fear following traditions and roles but the one free
of fear and judgement, she who will not choose anything less but ease of living
with dignity.
