Joanna Miller’s debut novel evokes profound emotions, particularly in the context of current societal issues. It deserves a strong five-star rating! Set in 1920s Oxford, the story unfolds as the first four women are allowed to attend the university. I was deeply moved by the friendships and bonds these women formed while confronting the prevalent misogyny of their time. The lessons they learned resonate powerfully today. From the very first page, I found myself completely captivated. This is an impressively crafted debut, making it an excellent choice for book club discussions!

Joanna Miller’s illuminating novel about the first group of women allowed to fully matriculate at Oxford is a testament to the value of good historical fiction, with how it brings to life both the specific challenges faced by four members of that historic group as well as the more general plight of marriage-minded young women in the male-depleted period after the First World War (“a million women too many, 1920 Husband Hunt,” screams a headline from the time).
A bit of a challenge, though, the novel poses for a reader, with how it takes some time to get straight the four characters, even with their particular torments – the anguish, for instance, felt by perhaps the most troubled of the group, Dora, who receives in short order notifications of the wartime deaths of both her brother and her fiance, though in a Dickensian twist halfway through the novel she will learn that all was not as it was presented to her in one of the death notices.
So traumatized, indeed, will she become by both what she endures at the school and the death notifications – “Oh, God, it's never going to end, is it?” she exclaims at one point about the war’s toll – that the school sends her home, prompting well-wishing letters from the other three women, who, as I have indicated, are not without their own issues. Beatrice, for instance, is still hurting from a long-ago assault she was subjected to as a child during one of her suffragette mother’s demonstrations, and Marianne, a rector’s daughter, is harboring a secret of her own that she strives throughout the novel to keep from the other women and school officials, while Otto, short for Ottoline, is back at Oxford as a student after a wartime tenure there as a volunteer driver after a disastrous turn at nursing.
And as if the women’s individual situations aren’t troubling enough, they must contend with college social proscriptions almost unimaginable to women today. No going to matinees with males without two women present or going for walks, bicycle rides or motor rides alone with a male other than their brothers or going out after dinner without permission or attending a public dance – the list goes on about what’s not permitted.
Indeed, so primly limited a social universe do the restrictions make for the women as to make all the more startling the intrusions from the outside world when they come – when, for instance, the women are on a picnic outing with a chaperone (always a chaperone was required for such occasions) and they come upon a manifestly disturbed veteran who begins stripping off his clothing and not only exposes his genitalia (permission wasn’t granted for us to see a penis today, dryly observes Otto) but lets loose with a urine stream that stains the chaperone’s dress. Or there’s the moment when Beatrice comes upon two women locked in a vigorous sexual embrace – both frightening and intoxicating she finds the scene – or when the reader learns that the wounded war veteran that Otto’s mother would have her marry not only lost a leg to the war – his prosthesis irritates the stump – but had his penis slashed in half by flying shrapnel.
Always there’s the war in the background, as when Marianne notes of one of the male characters that he has no ear on one side and “a fist-size patch of hair missing above the remaining gash” or when Otto notes of the greater abundance of males on campus after the war that among their numbers are boys hopping on crutches “like locusts in a biblical plague.”
For all the running evidence of the war’s toll, though, the war itself is only peripherally present – the novel is more social fiction than war fiction, after all – just as only in passing is mentioned another historic milestone of the times, Britain’s partitioning of six Irish counties and naming them Northern Ireland, which for all its mere passing reference in the novel will go on to make for decades of strife, as so grippingly depicted in the TV series, “Say Nothing.”
Considerably more attention, though, is afforded another scourge of the day, influenza, which strikes down Marianne as well as the school’s principal and will perhaps make for greater relatability for readers today, with their having just come out of an even worse pandemic themselves, though the influenza of the women’s time was worse in its way, with how there was no vaccine and with how it would prove almost as lethal as the trenches.
And always in the novel there’s the rampant sexism of the day, most prominently with the college restrictions imposed upon the women but also in smaller individual moments, such as when one of the four women is summarily ejected from a lecture for arriving just a few minutes late.
So more than a bit of a challenge for author Miller to make relevant for contemporary readers a time so different from our own, but a challenge which she rises to with aplomb (she even had me shedding a tear or two by novel’s end), even if I found excessive her occasional excerpts from college periodicals intended to give a sense of Oxford life at the time, such as when she devotes a considerable number of paragraphs to a report of college activities including tennis and boating.

As soon as I read the description of this book, I knew I had to read it. I love Oxford as a setting, and THE EIGHTS focuses on a group of women who are the first to actually be able to graduate from Oxford. There is so much detail, all fascinating, about the time period - including the Suffrage movement. This is one that I have continued to think about it long after I finished it. Very compelling debut.

I enjoy historical fiction featuring strong female characters, but something about this one just felt really slow. Also Marianne's "secret" was really drawn out. I did enjoy the friendships and outings.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A rich and deeply moving book about the first women to attend Oxford. It really brought to life the struggles and persistence of the pioneering 1920's women after the first World War. I came to care about these four women and were rooting for them throughout the book. This book is a celebration of friendships and grit. Joanna thoroughly did her research, such that you are emersed in the decade and these women become real. I found myself want to know more about their lives even after the book ended,

Well written book about women who brought their experiences and secrets with them as they became the first women students at Oxford. Through their friendship they learn to trust, love, and become more confident as individuals.

DNF -- I couldn't get into this one. The way it starts out, introducing one girl, and then another, and then another, and then another, in rapid succession, does not make for good writing and only serves to confuse and bore the reader. I also couldn't tell what the plot was. It seemed like it wanted to be some kind of Mona Lisa Smile/Dead Poets Society type thing, which would be great if the author included any clear semblance of a plot in the first 30 pages or so.

Nevertheless, thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

This was a great book about a really important and unique point in history - really showing the intersection of the impact of WWI alongside the fight for women’s equal rights in a variety of spaces. Throughout the novel, we dive deeper into the complexity of each of our main characters and learn of the multiple “battles” they are each fighting. I will admit that I found it difficult to keep them separate in the beginning of the book but I think this aligned well with “getting to know” them as the book went on, maybe even a slight reflection on society’s views of women. As an America, the often antiquated and British slang held me up a bit but I was grateful to find the glossary in the back! This was a great book and I’ll definitely continue to wonder what our Eights would have been up to after the story ended.

In *The Eights*, Miller skillfully navigates the intricate journeys of her characters as they confront the challenges of studying in a male-dominated environment. As the narrative unfolds, readers gradually uncover the secrets each character harbors. The four protagonists—Beatrice, Otto, Marianne, and Dora—are richly developed, both individually and as a cohesive unit. Despite their diverse backgrounds, the characters form a bond as friends, allies, and protectors within the confines of "The Eights," making their journey all the more compelling.

Miller effectively weaves historical context into the story, providing insight into the societal impacts of war and class, evoking empathy for the men who returned home broken and for the women whose lives were irrevocably altered. I was captivated by her ability to immerse readers in the academic atmosphere, which is vividly rendered throughout the narrative. Miller’s portrayal of Oxford’s historic grounds takes us back to a different era. This well-researched examination of a crucial moment in Oxford's academic history resonates profoundly, making the city feel both recognizable and enchanting.

Overall, this is a moving and inspirational read that left a lasting impression.

Thank you to Penguin UK and NetGalley for the advance review copy; all opinions expressed are my own.

A sweet story but it left me wanting more. I think the book suffered from having four main characters—in the end it didn’t feel like any of them got their due, and the other characters were really undeveloped. The time period was really interesting but there could have been so much more psychological depth. And why were the mothers all so terrible?

A very atmospheric and engaging literary novel. I enjoyed the subject matter and following a group of women around Oxford. The characters all have unique quirks but they grow together and it makes me for an engaging read.

The writing style was consistent throughout and Miller does a fantastic job of transporting the reader to the time period. This was one of those books where it was so easy to feel everything that was happening.

I will say that this book took me a bit to get through- it’s lengthy and there’s lots to digest!

“I don’t think it’s possible for us to do anything that isn’t touched by the war.” This quote sets the tone for all the characters in The Eights by Joanna Miller. The setting is 1920 at Oxford’s in London. 4 disparate young women come together as members of the first class to accept women at this storied institution. The paths of their lives have different beginnings but they all find support and friendship with each other. Besides facing prejudice against women, each character has been touched by their experiences from the recently ended WWI. I love how each of these women is portrayed as strong, independent and intelligent. Each character has a back story that is wonderfully threaded into the main storyline. Although each character is unique, I did find myself confusing them at times. The author included a few twists and surprises that made the reading fun. I strongly recommend this to readers who like historical fiction and especially those who like wonderful women characters.

I thought the use of friendship in the time of World War 1 was the strongest element to this. The concept was everything that I was looking for in this type of story. The characters were everything that I was looking for and enjoyed how they worked in this time-period. I thought Joanna Miller wrote this perfectly and glad I got to read this.

The way the author captures the camaraderie and struggles these women face in a male-dominated, post-WWI Oxford is both touching and empowering. The emotional depth of each character, from Dora’s grief to Marianne’s hidden truth, draws you in, while the rich historical setting makes the story even more poignant. This isn’t just a tale of breaking barriers; it’s about forging bonds that last through the darkest times. A moving exploration of friendship and the fight for equality, beautifully written and filled with heart.

I just read the best historical fiction book. The Eights was a wonderful story about a group of young women at Oxford. I loved it!

This was a pretty good book! It did focus a lot on the war so that part was a bit dull. But the story of the girls and their friendship and coming of age is good! The writing was interesting and kept me entertained, the secrets and the twists were a bit surprising, so I liked that!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and especially the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review of the book!!