Review: The Eights by Joanna Miller

 

The Eights by Joanna Miller

Publication Date: April 15th 2025 by G.P. Putnam's Sons

Pages: 384

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

What a brilliant and moving debut! I find the events around the time of WWI very interesting, but the personal aspects brought The Eights to life for me!

 

The story alternates between Otto, Beatrice, Dora and Marianne’s POV, all touched by the war and the struggles women faced at that time. So many challenges being part of the first group of women to potentially earn a degree from Oxford in 1920. Nicknamed “The Eights” because of their residence building, they bond over their experiences drawing close. Their friendship and support of each other was moving. There was a little bit of romance, but it was a small, but wonderful part of the story!

 

Otto is haunted by her memories of volunteering during the war. Dora deals with the loss of her brother and fiancé. Beatrice’s mother loved fighting for women’s rights more than her daughter. Beatrice’s mother was awful!  Then there’s the pastor’s daughter, Marianne, carrying a secret. At first, I thought she was the least interesting, but she ended up being my favorite by the end! I loved them all, though!

5 Stars

Book Description:

They knew they were changing history.
They didn't know they would change each other.

Following the unlikely friendship of four of the first ever women to matriculate at Oxford University in the aftermath of the First World War, a captivating debut novel about sisterhood, self-determination and the many forms courage can take.

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world's most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne and Otto (collectively known as The Eights) have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship.

Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Politically-minded Beatrice, daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way - and some friends her own age. Otto was a nurse during the war but is excited to return to her socialite lifestyle in Oxford - where she hopes to find distraction from the memories that haunt her. And finally Marianne, the quiet, clever daughter of a village pastor, who has a shocking secret she must hide from everyone, even her new friends, if she is to succeed.

But Oxford's dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed. And as the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Joanna Miller studied English at Exeter College, Oxford, and later returned to complete an English teaching degree at the Department of Educational Studies. After ten years as a teacher and literacy adviser, she set up an award-winning poetry gift business. Miller's rhyming verse has been filmed twice by the BBC, and in 2015 she won the Poetry Prize, run by Bloomsbury Publishing and the National Literacy Trust. In 2021, Miller graduated from the Faber Academy, after which she was accepted on the Escalator Talent Development Scheme at The National Centre for Writing. She has recently returned to Oxford to study part-time for a diploma in creative writing.