“Bugger,” Emmy Nation says aloud as she opens her eyes on the morning rain. She shuts them tight and says a quick prayer that the rain was only in her dream. Slower, and with whispered hopes, Emmy opens her eyes again. The rain seems to be coming down even harder than it was a moment ago. Emmy refrains from cursing by turning her face into her pillow and muffling a cry. The rain has been consistent for a solid week, and Emmy’s boots have not dried out since the first day of the downpour. Rolling over, she wishes it to be the middle of the night and not yet time to face the world again, but the kettle whistles and she hears a chair scrape across the floor, and a few dishes being clattered around.
“The tea’s on,” Mrs. Lawrence says in her soft and frail voice, as she gently knocks on Emmy’s door. “Time to get up, dear.”
“Yes, I’m up. Thank you, Mrs. Lawrence,” Emmy responds, keeping her grumbling to herself as she climbs out from under the covers and into the chill of the room.
Emmy’s room is the size of a pantry closet, because once upon a time it was just that. Mrs. Lawrence had been forced to turn her pantry into a room to rent out when her husband passed away and left her with just shy of the amount of money one actually needs to get by. Mrs. Lawrence had added a bed and a wardrobe to the relatively large pantry off of her kitchen, in order to make a rather small bedroom. Emmy was very grateful to have the room, and had grown to love the sounds of Mrs. Lawrence working away over the stove or washing dishes, while the smell of food wafted in to greet her in the morning.
Emmy always wakes up hungry.
Title: Emmy Nation: Undercover Suffragette
Author: L. Davis Munro
Genre: Historical Fiction
Being an independent woman in 1913 London is certainly empowering, but Emmy Nation is tired of the inescapable damp seeping through her worn shoes and the hopeless grumblings of her stomach.
When she receives an offer from Scotland Yard to boost her typist income by spying on the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), Emmy jumps at the chance. But as she grows closer to the WSPU women the lines begin to blur, and when a painful part of her past resurfaces Emmy begins to question her choices.
How far are you willing to go to secure your equality?
L. Davis Munro holds a master’s degree with a focus on women’s suffrage theatre and works in theatre and dance. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with her husband and her dog.
Links
www.thesuffragettenation.com
discoveringwritinglife.wordpress.com
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