The Surplus Girls by Polly Heron

"That's the point, my dear. You've got to work. You're a surplus girl."
"A what?"
"A surplus girl. That's what they're being called. With so many of our young men having lost their lives in the war, there's now a generation of girls with no men to marry them...
I didn't mean to give offence. My point is that surplus girls face a lifetime of fending for themselves."

The Surplus Girls by Polly Heron is a family saga set in Manchester, 1922.

It's the third book by the author which I've read this year (Polly Heron is a nom de plume of Susanna Bavin). The theme of the women's rights or lack thereof runs through her gripping stories.

The Surplus Girls is not a historical romance where a heroine from an impoverished background just has to flutter her eyelashes to catch a Duke or Earl and live happily ever after.
Heron's protagonists are real women, who live in poverty, and struggle every day to feed their family and make ends meet.

In Belinda Layton, the author has created a remarkable character. Her story is compelling, dark and devastating, but also full of exciting surprises and twists.

Belinda Layton is the eponymous surplus girl. She is one of thousands of young women who are left to fend for themselves after the death of their fiancés and husbands in the first world war.
Her beloved Ben is killed in action, and Belinda is "adopted" by her fiancé's mother and grandmother. Auntie Enid and Grandma Beattie dote on her and love her dearly, but they also put an immense pressure on her to stay in mourning for Ben.
Four years after his death, she is still in full mourning, and doesn't even dare to wear a white collar, or any colourful detail on her black outfit. She knows her family wouldn't approve or understand her desire to wear some colour.

Her own parents live in extreme poverty. The father is a total wastrel who cannot keep a job, and blames everyone else for his miserable existence. The mother is a slave to the family, and those children who have jobs, have to contribute to the family's budget (spent by father on drink and better food for himself).
They all expect Belinda to give part of her wage to them, even if she doesn't live with them any longer. They don't care about her, all they want is her meagre factory wages. There's no gratitude on their behalf, they take Belinda for granted. After all, she is not married, and thus has to give money to her parents.
They are so poor, that there's always a fear they would end up in the workhouse.

After four years of mourning, Belinda is ready to embrace the future without her fiancé. On her old teacher's advice, she decides to join a secretarial class, to try to better herself. That decision is not met with approval from her family, "I don't mean you no ill, lass, you know that," she is being told, "but this is where you belong. You can't climb out of your life. Everyone has their rightful place".

When Belinda joins the secretarial class, her world expands. While doing an unpaid job at the book shop to gain experience, she meets the shop owner's nephew Richard Carson. Belinda is smitten, her feelings and emotions are re-awakened. She had never considered the possibility of another relationship, but having met Richard, "she felt alive in a way she hadn't in years".

Working in the book shop, she also encounters Carson's cousin, Gabriel Linkworth. She doesn't trust him at first, as her loyalties lie with Richard. As time goes, she gradually learns to like and respect him. Gabriel is another victim of the war. Trapped inside a burning building in France, he is the only survivor. He loses his memory, not just the immediate past, but his entire life, his name, everything.

Belinda tries to understand her own feelings and figure out what she really wants.
Will she be able to find happiness after all the loss and devastation?

Heron's writing never falters, when creating an authentic, believable past. The class division, and the rigid rungs of social standing, with the inverted snobbery from the poorest who despise anyone who want to better themselves, reads true to life.
For example, when Belinda tries to persuade her family to allow her to apply for a new job, Grandma Beattie says, "Save your thanks for when we dry your tears after you've been knocked back from getting above yourself".

It's not just Belinda who's trying to follow her dreams. There are several sub-plots running along the main story, like the story of two sisters - Miss Hesketh and Miss Patience - who find themselves at the mercy of their half-brother who inherits the house which belonged to their late mother and wants to move in into his newly acquired abode without a second thought about the sisters. To survive, they start the secretarial school.
Their story is as engrossing as Belinda's.

I was glad to see the mention of Mary Brewer, a lady journalist who writes for Vera's Voice under the name of Fay Randall. Her story is told in The Poor Relation (<-- click on the link for the review). Seeing her name in another book was like meeting an old friend.

The Surplus Girls is the first book in a new series of family sagas. I can't wait to read the next book.

Many thanks to the author for my copy of the book!