Crooked Pieces

Book excerpt: Maggie seems to be going up in the world. Compared to living with her large and impoverished East London family and watching her mother being worn down by life and childbearing, working as a maid is a big improvement. Meeting very different people like the Pankhursts, Maggie is introduced to a completely different world, one in which people talk about women getting the vote and organise impressive rallies and demonstrate at Parliament. Then when she meets and begins 'walking out' with a handsome police officer, it seems like a whole new horizon has opened up for her. Drawn into the workings of the suffragette movement, Maggie is soon caught up in a darker side of the increasingly militant cause. The brutal treatment she and her fellows suffer might make them all more determined to achieve their goal, but just how much is Maggie prepared to sacrifice?