With her debut novel, Somewhere in France, Jennifer Robson painted a vivid portrait of life in the trenches and battlefields of World War I. In After the War Is Over, Robson turns her attention to the societal ills of postwar England and one young woman determined to speak out on behalf of the voiceless.
Charlotte Brown--vicar's daughter, Oxford graduate--found satisfaction in her work as a nurse during the war years. As she returns to her old job at a relief agency in Liverpool, she realizes the country's wounds are only beginning to heal. When her impassioned letter to a newspaper editor yields regular work as a columnist, Charlotte finds herself penning fiery appeals, explaining the plight of the families she tries to help. Meanwhile, she can't quite forget the man who captured her heart years ago: her best friend's brother, Edward, a kind, aristocratic man deeply damaged in mind and body by the war. As Charlotte struggles to reconcile her love for Edward with her deep convictions about social injustice, she must confront her own class prejudices and her fears about being loved.
Robson's prose brims with authentic period detail and characters, as in the diverse group of women at Charlotte's boardinghouse or the delights of the seaside at Blackpool on a rare day out. At once sweeping and intimate, Charlotte's story is both a sensitive depiction of postwar Britain and the story of a woman trying to find her voice on and off the page. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams