The Eights, by Joanna Miller

In 1920 women are officially admitted to degree courses at Oxford for the first time, but with restrictions on their dress, behaviour and social lives that do not apply to male students. Four young women - Beatrice, Dora, Otto and Marianne - live in corridor eight of St Hugh’s College. They have little in common, apart from the post-war trauma that affects so many of their peers, but become firm friends and allies. The story of their first year at University, with all its trials, tribulations and triumphs, unfolds as they face discrimination, abuse and misogyny from many quarters. Miller clearly did a lot of research and many of the finer details the reader doesn’t need to know; the tactic of putting them in the mouth of geeky Beatrice doesn’t make it any less didactic. It’s a really interesting setting and the examination of difficult mother-daughter relationships adds depth, but some story elements are hard to swallow.