The Eights by Joanna Miller is a debut novel about four women who attend Oxford University in 1920, the first year that women were formally allowed to receive degrees. I almost didn’t start this book thinking that it may have been written with a specific appeal to women, but I gave it the 50-page rule (if it doesn’t grab you in the first 50 pages then try something else) and couldn’t stop there. It’s a cosy and easy read and I had just a little issue with recalling each character’s personality and background. It’s helpful to get that clear as soon as we meet them.
The four women call themselves ‘the eights’ because their rooms are in Corridor 8 of St Hugh’s College. They are all quite different from each other, but all are older than the average undergraduate and have war experience. Otto is from a rich family and nursed and drove ambulances in Oxford during the first world war. It was an experience that scarred her, so she’s out for a good time. Dora’s family are from ‘new money’ (her father owns a factory) and she’s suffering from the loss of both her brother and fiancé. Beatrice is the daughter of a well-known suffragette who wants to do her own thing away from home. Marianne is the quiet daughter of a clergyman who goes home regularly to help the family. They all have their secrets (with varying degrees of explosiveness) but their primary aim is to do something different and learn. Don’t we all? Over the course of their first year, the four women become good friends helping each other in a myriad of ways. Together, they defend their right to be at university and grow as independent women.
It was fascinating to see how they dealt with the archaic male-imposed restrictions on women seeking a university education at that time. Restrictions that still exist in some countries to this very day.
Title: The Eights
Author: Joana Miller
Published: April 15, 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons
