Maisie Dobbs

Maisie Dobbs, Book 1

By: Jacqueline Winspear

Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy

Maisie Dobbs got her start as a maid in an aristocratic London household when she was thirteen. Her employer, suffragette Lady Rowan Compton, soon became her patron, taking the remarkably bright youngster under her wing. Lady Rowan’s friend, Maurice Blanche, often retained as an investigator by the European elite, recognized Maisie’s intuitive gifts and helped her earn admission to the prestigious Girton College in Cambridge, where Maisie planned to complete her education.

The outbreak of war changed everything. Maisie trained as a nurse, then left for France to serve at the Front, where she found—and lost—an important part of herself. Ten years after the Armistice, in the spring of 1929, Maisie sets out on her own as a private investigator, one who has learned that coincidences are meaningful, and truth elusive. Her very first case involves suspected infidelity but reveals something different.

In the aftermath of the Great War, a former officer has founded a working farm known as The Retreat that acts as a convalescent refuge for ex-soldiers too shattered to resume normal life. When Fate brings Maisie a second case involving The Retreat, she must finally confront the ghost that has haunted her for over a decade.

©2003 Jacqueline Winspear (P)2022 Recorded Books

My new favorite series

Maisie Dobbs’ brains, empathy and surrounding cast makes for an entertaining and compelling story. I was happy to add Maisie to my list of admirable women.

Not my favorite narration

I hung on mainly because I’d recently returned an audible title and couldn’t return this one. The story wasn’t bad - with a different narrator, I’d continue the series. Her acting and expression weren’t bad, but the long, unnecessary pauses ruined an otherwise decent audiobook. At first, I’d wondered if the book had cut off entirely. Then the narration would continue. There were long pauses in the middle of conversations that wouldn’t have occurred naturally, in the middle of sentences, and between the words of the speaker and the text noting who spoke (the ‘she said’). By the end, it seemed like the narrator had to pause every time she thought the expression of the phrase was just right, as if it needed to be admired. Like I said, it ruined the audiobook for me.

narrator is superb

transports you in time and place ..
almost like watching a BritBox mystery... totally immersive experience

Warm characters; I cried and laughed

Truly enjoyed these characters and the story. I cried and laughed, which is usually a sign of a good book for me.

Should never forget

Liked the idea of understanding and forgiveness even for such high degree cruelty as this one
The characters are very true and with the best human virtues