Behold... One of my favourite books of all time!

The Eights is a recipe for everything that I love in a novel. An Oxford setting, strong female friendship, historical facts mixed with fiction and incredible writing to power the story through.

The characters of Beatrice, Marianne, Dora and Otto have a Little Women-esque feel about them and I am DESPERATE to read more from them. They complemented one another perfectly and I loved how each of the women had such different attributes. Otto made me laugh on several occasions!

A powerful and beautiful story that I can't wait to see reach readers when it's published.

I loved this eminently readable literary tale about a group of four young women at Oxford University who were the first to be admitted to degree programs in 1920.
The descriptions are evocative and the period felt fresh and real to read. Strong characterisation and a compelling story with an insightful and immpactful view on this pivotal period of time, with the shadows of world war one haunting the world. This is literary but also a propulsive and highly readable book. The underlying themes of misogyny and friendship are well handled and its a satisfying read. Perfection. I'm a fan and can't wait to see what Miller does next.

This is a great novel and I learned a lot about these women who couldn't study at Oxford. Fancy being told you can't attend university because you're a woman. it shows just how women were viewed and this is onlyi the 1920s which is scary. We've come so far yet still have far to go. It really made me think reading this. Would love to see this on the TV!

A joyful, interesting read with some gorgeous historical detail. This made me want to go to Oxford immediately

The Eights is a story of female struggles, friendship and loss centered around the lives of a group of women studying at Oxford Uni in the 1920s

While based in fact the story is a fiction and follows the lives of Otto, Dora, Beatrice and Marianne as they negotiate being among the first women to study at Oxford and a new post war world. All have their own interesting backstory which feeds into their university experience and their friendship.

I really enjoyed this. The four main characters, while each very different, were all engaging and personable and I found the history of Oxford Uni and female education there so interesting.

The narrative is threaded through with genuine excerpts from newspapers and University rules and I felt that really added to the story.

Well written and researched so you not only get a real feel for Oxford at the time but also the attitudes towards women and the emotions of a country as it struggles to free itself from the nightmare of war

Obviously, when I read the premise of The Eights – a novel set in Oxford in the early 20s, focusing on a group of four young women who will be the first to graduate with degrees – I immediately pounced on it. This literally sounds like a book made for me. I love reading about the 20s, academia, Oxford in the interwar period, early feminism, the First World War... I could go on.

To be honest it took me a little while to get into The Eights and there were a few things I wasn't keen on: the prose was a bit too jaunty and at times I almost felt like I could see the author's thinking, that historical references and emotional turning points were shoehorned into the story without feeling entirely natural. I was also sometimes a bit overwhelmed with the four POVs, which makes sense because they're all similar on the surface, and it took me longer than I would like to really get the characters.

But the story went on, my issues with the book were quietened and I ended up definitely enjoying it. It's full of lots of wonderful historical detail, and comes across as so impressively researched and such a convincing portrayal of what Oxford was like for women students in the 20s. I liked the characters and I liked reading about their dilemmas, too; the First World War hangs heavily over them, and I thought that was important and skilfully done. By the end of the book, I actually felt that I would be keen to read a sequel: because of the multiple POVs, I think this is the sort of story that would definitely benefit from readers really getting to know the characters and seeing how their lives unfold.

So I was hoping I'd love this one and I didn't but I would still recommend.

Really enjoyed this, it started out as a light and easy read, but developed into a far more engaging account of the four women and their lives after WW1. Oxford hasn't changed but captured the undergrad experience well.

Oxford University, 1920 - the first time women have been allowed to matriculate and gain degrees. Four women from very different backgrounds move into corridor eight of St Hugh's College and become good friends, helping each other to deal with past traumas and present challenges over the course of their first year.

What a brilliant book, I absolutely loved it! The author does a magnificent job of combining fascinating historical detail with a page-turning plot and I couldn't put it down. Loved the four women - Dora, Beatrice, Otto and Madeleine - and the different perspectives they brought to the story... but most of all their friendship. Amazing - can we have a series please?! Very VERY highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book.

Oxford 1920, and the world’s most famous university has admitted female students. This fascinating work of fiction follows Dora, Beatrice, Otto and Marianne through their first year at Oxford and truly is an intriguing and inspiring story as we share their journey. The extensive research obviously done by the author shines through every paragraph.

I did feel at times the fictional story was competing with all the historical facts included and as a result became slightly lost which I personally felt was a shame.

I will certainly follow this author after such a strong debut.

Thank you to Penguin General UK and NetGalley for an eARC of The Eights.

Oh dear, what a disappointment.
I had high hopes for this debut novel from Miller. The story is about the first women to be admitted to Oxford University but it feels as we’ve been catapulted into a history lesson and the characters are almost shoe horned in.

There is no doubt that a huge amount of research has been undertaken, but the novel ‘educates’ us at every opportunity, with facts thrown at us from all directions, mostly at the expense of the narrative. If someone is walking down a road or entering a building we are pulled out of the story by ‘interesting facts’ about the place/architecture/famous person. There’s even a glossary of terms and key dates at the end.

I found the pacing painfully slow, probably because we see the world from each perspective of the four main characters one after the other. And when the inciting incident is that one of the four is pushed to the ground by a drunken fresher I did wonder how much more exciting it could get. Not a lot, it turns out.

Out of the four main women, I could not distinguish between Marianne and Dora and had to keep checking back to remind myself which one was the rector’s daughter and which one had lost her brother and fiancé in the War.
Otto and Beatrice are larger than life but become almost caricatures of ‘women of their time’. Otto, a socialite and Beatrice, the daughter of a suffragette (who’s most distinguishing feature is her six foot frame), are both there because of the relationships they have with their mothers.

Yes, the women have to battle against misogyny and the horrors lingering from the Great War, but Miller has decided to do this with buttered scones and glasses of champagne, or cocktails on the river and the odd flirt with the men from other colleges.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy.

A wonderful story that follows the first women to study at university in Oxford during the WW2 period. Historical fiction fans are in for a treat with this one!

I'm so impressed that this is Joanna Miller's debut novel. It's a well written, well researched book about a topic that I personally found fascinating. I mean, who doesn't love some strong female main characters? 💪

SPOILER:

The only reason it lost a star for me is because I'm personally just not a big fan of the accidental/surprise pregnancy trope. I didn't feel like it added a huge deal to the story. Having said that, that's one tiny part of the book and I absolutely loved the rest of it.

The Eights’ is a meticulously researched tale focusing on four young women who are accepted as the first female undergraduates at St Hilda’s, Oxford after the first World War. Beatrice, Otto, Marianne and Dora all carry emotional burdens, much like everyone in the country after 1918 and, over the course of the novel, Joanna Miller reveals these one at a time.
For anyone interested in the history of female emancipation, this is likely to be a fascinating read. Whilst many people will know the broad brushstrokes of this time and place, few will be aware of the insanely petty rules and regulations that women undergraduates had to abide by if they were not to be sent down. Different times!
Joanna Miller succeeds in creating four very different central characters who suffer only a little from encapsulating different aspects of a woman’s lot at the time. Revelations about past sufferings and current aspirations are paced throughout the novel and through these we remain engaged. Miller also guides the reader to appreciate the pressure that women are under, not that this signposting is really necessary. For example, English Literature student Dora complains, ‘Why is it that women must suppress the feelings that are inconvenient or threatening to men? Their natural anger, grief and rage. Why in literature do they kill themselves or get locked in asylums, attics, prisons, hotel rooms?’
At the end of the novel, Otto understands that, ‘Most of us are ordinary people grasping the opportunity of an extraordinary education – and that goes for the men too.’ Well, up to a point depending on one’s definition of ‘’ordinary’. Ordinary working-class people will have to wait many decades to fully grasp that chance.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK, Figtree for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

I loved this book. A hugely entertaining and brilliant-written novel which gives us not one, not two but four incredible female characters to root for. Meticulously researched and impeccably crafted. An entirely delightful debut.

Joanne Miller’s The Eight begins with an intriguing premise that immediately drew me in, hinting at a story rich with potential. Unfortunately, the slow pacing soon became an obstacle, making it difficult to sustain the initial excitement. Additionally, the narrative frequently shifts from one character to another from the start, creating a fragmented experience that made it hard to fully connect with any single plotline. While the concept itself was promising, the execution fell short, lacking the cohesive and engaging flow needed to bring the story to life.

Warm, engaging and well-researched, this is the story of four young women among the first intake of Oxford women students eligible to get degrees from the university. The four women, who become friends after finding themselves living on the same corridor, are from different backgrounds and face different challenges and prejudices as they navigate their student years. Each one has their own drama to face and the book ends with the reader wanting to know more about what happens next.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

1920, Oxford, and the university is admitting its first female students.

The male academics are not exactly united in their eagerness to welcome women. From tutors and students alike there is eye-rolling, smirking, and a list of objections as long as it is self-contradictory.

The staff of the women’s colleges are well aware of the scrutiny under which they and their charges will fall. Regardless of individual achievement they will be seen as women before anything else, and must work twice as hard as men to earn half the respect.

The weight of the recent war hangs heavy over the university. The sense of national mourning is such that any celebration of women’s admittance can only, as when the vote was won by women two years earlier, be muted in a solemn sobriety.

Four young women of the new intake, Dora, Beatrice, Marianne, and Ottoline, move into rooms on Corridior Eight of St Hugh’s college fizzing with excitement and apprehension. From very different walks of life, they each have their reasons for coming to Oxford, and must consider their troubled pasts and uncertain futures. Unlikely to have mixed in their lives outside of college, their proximity breeds an unexpected and rich friendship.

This is such an enjoyable and inspiring book. Oxford of the early 1920s is brought vividly to life, convincingly unsettled and uncertain, clinging to its history in a time of change. The young men and women of this time have been through all shades of hell, and Miller doesn’t shy away from any of the horrors, though she finds enough light and air in her story to fill with hope, joy, and the promise of change for the better. I loved how she wove real people and events into her story*, and I learned a lot while being swept along by her wonderful, compelling, characters.

Moving, witty, and written with an eloquent zest, this is a book of potent charm.

*mansplaining quibble: the phrase Stone Tape Theory was coined some 50 years after the events of this book.

I love a mid-century based book especially one focusing on the lives of women navigating and driving change and The Eights is an absolute delight bringing to vivd life the experiences of women fighting to be taken seriously as students straight after the First World War.

It is 1920. Men have returned home although many still bear the physical and mental scars of their time in the trenches, women have relinquished their jobs back to the returning soldiers but in return some have gained the vote, and the youngest adults have emerged from their schools into a different world to those of their older siblings. Oxford has had women students and colleges for some time now but separate not part of the illustrious university and this is the first year women students are allowed to matriculate. Among those students are Dora, Marianne, Otto and Beatrice, arriving at St Hugh's with vastly different hopes, dreams and experiences. Dora is still mourning the brother and fiance who should both have returned to their studies in Oxford, tall, awkward Beatrice is struggling to find her confidence and escape from the overbearing shadow of her formidable pioneeing mother, Otto is haunted by her experiences as a VAD, needing to prove that she is more than a party girl whose only role is to marry well and Marianne has well buried secrets she can't share even with her closest friends.

The Eights takes us through the four friends first year as they navigate onerous rules, double standards, hostile lecturers and male students. The book is filled with historical detail but wears its research lightly, entertaining as it educates, the author's love for the city, the traditions of the university and her subject shining through. An absorbing and enjoyable read, I loved it.

I loved this book on so many levels. The historical detail was wonderful and I really liked that so much was based on real people and events. It was fascinating to understand more about what life was like for female scholars in 1920, and I was completely swept up in the storylines of all four of the main characters. A wonderful read and a story I didn't want to end.

Well written, and fascinating, debut novel about some of the first female undergraduates at Oxford. Four women of different backgrounds, experiences - especially during World War One - share the 8th corridor, hence the name. The book chronologically follows the women through their first year, with some flashbacks. It chronicles the highs, lows, fears, disappointments they experience. This should definitely top of your TBR pile; you won't be disappointed.

With many thanks to NetGalley and Fig Tree for an ARC.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy in exchange for a fair and honest review**

The synopsis of this one had me requesting it very quickly. Historical Fiction based on the true story of the first women undergraduates at Oxford? Sign me up!

Great characters facing believable challenges in a time of huge changes, post-WW1. Navigating losses and family commitments along with the pressure of not letting an entire gender down. Women were most definitely not wanted in Oxford by many and you could feel the weight of responsibilities on these women.

As somone who lives relatively locally, I loved reading the descriptions of Oxford and recognising the buildings and streets. It was really interesting to consider how little has changed in the last 100 years.

A captivating read.