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Original Essays | April 29, 2013

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Maisie Dobbs

by

Maisie Dobbs Cover

ISBN13: 9780142004333
ISBN10: 0142004332
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Maisie entered domestic service in 1910 at the age of thirteen, to work as a maid at the Belgravia mansion of Lady Rowan Compton. When her remarkable intelligence and innate love of learning are discovered by her employer, Maisie becomes the pupil of Maurice Blanche, a learned friend of the Comptons who is often retained by Europe's elite, and the police, to conduct discreet investigations.

Eventually, Maisie enters Girton College at Cambridge University, but the escalation of World War I intervenes to change her plans. She serves as a nurse at the front and falls in love with a handsome young doctor, only to lose him.

In 1929, following an apprenticeship assisting Blanche iin his work, Maissie hangs out her shingle: M. DOBBS, TRADE AND PERSONAL INVESTIGATIONS. She soon becomes enmeshed in a mystery suurrounding The Retreat, a reclusive community of veterans wounded in body and spirit. At first, Maisie only suspects foul play, but she must act quickly when Lady Rowan's son decides to sign away his fortune and take refuge at The Retreat. A coincidence? Maisie has learned that coincidences can lead to the truth, and hurriedly investigates The Retreat. She uncovers a disturbing mystery at its core which in an astonishing denouemment, gives Maisie the courage to confront the ghost that has haunted her for over ten years.

Review:

"Winspear rarely attempts to elevate her prose past the common romance, and what might have been a journey through a strata of England between the wars is instead just simple, convenient and contrived. Prime candidate for a TV movie." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"[An] inspired debut novel, a delightful mix of mystery, war story and romance set in WWI-era England...Winspear [is] a new writer to watch." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Review:

"Deft...Prepare to be astonished at the sensitivity and wisdom with which Maisie resolves her first professional assignment...Winspear takes her through her ordeal with great compassion." Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"From its dedication to the author's paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother...to its powerful conclusion, this is a poignant and compelling story....Winspear writes in simple, effective prose...handling human drama with compassionate sensitivity while skillfully avoiding cloying sentimentality. At the end, the reader is left yearning for more....Highly recommended." Library Journal (Starred Review)

Synopsis:

London, 1920. In the aftermath of the Great War and a devastating family tragedy, Laurence Bartram has turned his back on the world. But with a well-timed letter, an old flame manages to draw him back in. Mary Emmetts brother Johnlike Laurence, an officer during the warhas apparently killed himself while in the care of a remote veterans hospital, and Mary needs to know why. 

Aided by his friend Charlesa dauntless gentleman with detective skills cadged from mystery novelsLaurence begins asking difficult questions. What connects a group of war poets, a bitter feud within Emmetts regiment, and a hidden love affair? Was Emmetts death really a suicide, or the missing piece in a puzzling series of murders? As veterans tied to Emmett continue to turn up dead, and Laurence is forced to face the darkest corners of his own war experiences, his own survival may depend on uncovering the truth. 

At once a compelling mystery and an elegant literary debut, The Return of Captain John Emmett blends the psychological depth of Pat Barkers Regeneration trilogy with lively storytelling from the golden age of British crime fiction.

Synopsis:

Hailed by NPR’s Fresh Air as part Testament of Youth, part Dorothy Sayers, and part Upstairs, Downstairs, this astonishing debut has already won fans from coast to coast and is poised to add Maisie Dobbs to the ranks of literature’s favorite sleuths.

Maisie Dobbs isn’t just any young housemaid. Through her own natural intelligence—and the patronage of her benevolent employers—she works her way into college at Cambridge. When World War I breaks out, Maisie goes to the front as a nurse. It is there that she learns that coincidences are meaningful and the truth elusive. After the War, Maisie sets up on her own as a private investigator. But her very first assignment, seemingly an ordinary infidelity case, soon reveals a much deeper, darker web of secrets, which will force Maisie to revisit the horrors of the Great War and the love she left behind.

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About the Author

This is the first novel by Jacqueline Winspear, who was born and raised in England. After a career in publishing there, she and her husband settled in California in 1990.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 13 comments:
Linkmeister, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by Linkmeister)
This was a spectacular book about a period in history which has been overshadowed by the two wars surrounding it, and about the efforts of an intelligent young woman to make her way upward in a class-conscious English society. It's ostensibly a mystery, but the book is as much sociological as it is about a crime. Spectacular, and better yet, it's the first of a series of nine or ten books.
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Linkmeister, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by Linkmeister)
This was a spectacular book about a period in history which has been overshadowed by the two wars surrounding it, and about the efforts of an intelligent young woman to make her way upward in a class-conscious English society. It's ostensibly a mystery, but the book is as much sociological as it is about a crime. Spectacular, and better yet, it's the first of a series of nine or ten books.
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JHenry, August 26, 2012 (view all comments by JHenry)
I recently picked this book up to bring to the beach and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I don't normally read mysteries but I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I especially liked the history lesson that is interwoven into the story. It's been a long time since I read a book where the ending wasn't pretty obvious. I am addicted, I already went and bought the next two books in the series.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780142004333
Author:
Winspear, Jacqueline
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Author:
Speller, Elizabeth
Subject:
General
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - Historical
Subject:
Children s All Ages - Fiction - General
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - General
Subject:
World War, 1914-1918
Subject:
Veterans
Subject:
Historical fiction
Subject:
Mystery fiction
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Mystery Historical
Copyright:
2004
Edition Description:
Paperback / softback
Series:
Maisie Dobbs Mysteries
Publication Date:
20040531
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
from 12
Language:
English
Pages:
320
Dimensions:
8.25 x 5.5 in 1 lb
Age Level:
from 18
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Related Subjects


Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
Fiction and Poetry » Mystery » A to Z
Fiction and Poetry » Mystery » Historical

Maisie Dobbs Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$4.95 In Stock
Product details 320 pages Penguin Books - English 9780142004333 Reviews:
"Review" by , "Winspear rarely attempts to elevate her prose past the common romance, and what might have been a journey through a strata of England between the wars is instead just simple, convenient and contrived. Prime candidate for a TV movie."
"Review" by , "[An] inspired debut novel, a delightful mix of mystery, war story and romance set in WWI-era England...Winspear [is] a new writer to watch."
"Review" by , "Deft...Prepare to be astonished at the sensitivity and wisdom with which Maisie resolves her first professional assignment...Winspear takes her through her ordeal with great compassion."
"Review" by , "From its dedication to the author's paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother...to its powerful conclusion, this is a poignant and compelling story....Winspear writes in simple, effective prose...handling human drama with compassionate sensitivity while skillfully avoiding cloying sentimentality. At the end, the reader is left yearning for more....Highly recommended."
"Synopsis" by ,
London, 1920. In the aftermath of the Great War and a devastating family tragedy, Laurence Bartram has turned his back on the world. But with a well-timed letter, an old flame manages to draw him back in. Mary Emmetts brother Johnlike Laurence, an officer during the warhas apparently killed himself while in the care of a remote veterans hospital, and Mary needs to know why. 

Aided by his friend Charlesa dauntless gentleman with detective skills cadged from mystery novelsLaurence begins asking difficult questions. What connects a group of war poets, a bitter feud within Emmetts regiment, and a hidden love affair? Was Emmetts death really a suicide, or the missing piece in a puzzling series of murders? As veterans tied to Emmett continue to turn up dead, and Laurence is forced to face the darkest corners of his own war experiences, his own survival may depend on uncovering the truth. 

At once a compelling mystery and an elegant literary debut, The Return of Captain John Emmett blends the psychological depth of Pat Barkers Regeneration trilogy with lively storytelling from the golden age of British crime fiction.
"Synopsis" by ,

Hailed by NPR’s Fresh Air as part Testament of Youth, part Dorothy Sayers, and part Upstairs, Downstairs, this astonishing debut has already won fans from coast to coast and is poised to add Maisie Dobbs to the ranks of literature’s favorite sleuths.

Maisie Dobbs isn’t just any young housemaid. Through her own natural intelligence—and the patronage of her benevolent employers—she works her way into college at Cambridge. When World War I breaks out, Maisie goes to the front as a nurse. It is there that she learns that coincidences are meaningful and the truth elusive. After the War, Maisie sets up on her own as a private investigator. But her very first assignment, seemingly an ordinary infidelity case, soon reveals a much deeper, darker web of secrets, which will force Maisie to revisit the horrors of the Great War and the love she left behind.

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