Everybody's Somebody (Jackson Family Saga #1) by Beryl Kingston
Genre: Historical fiction
Read: 23rd February 2020
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 31st July 2017)
★★★★ 4.5 stars
I came across Beryl Kingston quite by accident but it wasn't until I received one of her books from Netgalley, which just so happens to be the sequel to this one, that I decided to grab myself a copy of EVERYBODY'S SOMEBODY to read first. And I am glad I did. I do love some good old historical fiction.
The story opens with a Prologue which I admit I found a little confusing at first as it is set in a art gallery with a school group perusing the works of a well-known artist. I wondered where this was going and what it had to do with the story when it became clear that it was set in the present day. But with no date titled at the beginning of the prologue made it very confusing to start with. However, on this visit the teacher focuses on the artist's portraits of more famous people such as Lawrence of Arabia but two girls are fascinated with the dark haired woman in four of his paintings. When they ask their teacher who she was the teacher replied "someone no consequence". But once out of earshot, one of the girls confides to the other "I don't care if she had consequence or not. She looks strong. And if you think about it, she must have been somebody. Everybody's somebody. I'd like to have met her."
Taking place in the early 1900's (again, no year is specified), the story is centred around young Rosie Goodison who has just turned 12 and is excited to be going into service with her first job some miles away to contribute to the family. The oldest of then four children, Rosie's family lives a simple life in the village of Binderton. Her new position is as nursery maid to a young three year old called Rachel and she soon throws the cat amongst the pigeons when she alters young Rachel's diet to solids rather than the bread and milk fed to babies, much to the nanny's chagrin.
From the first moment, Rosie comes across as a very strong character. Despite her fears of being so far from home and her family for the first time in her life, she maintains the age-old English tradition of the stiff upper lip and just gets on with things. She is in awe of the smart uniform she is provided with the meals they are supplied with, which are plentiful and the "best grub she's ever had". She soon befriends Maisie, the other nursery maid, who tells her that there will be another baby to look after soon which is why she was taken on. And sure enough, young Bernard was born, joining the nursery about a week later.
Due to her duties and the distance, she was only able to visit her family once a year - on Mothering Sunday. As each year passed, Rosie noticed her family growing and her mother pregnant yet again. Rosie expresses a desire to be nearer her family, so when her brother Tommy gets a job gardening for the Vicar in the village he keeps his ear out for anything that would suit Rosie. He is rewarded when a woman pays a visit to the vicarage looking for a suitable cottage for her boys on their summer vacation from Eton. Rosie is then given the position of housekeeper to Anthony and Nicholas Eden, two rather pompous and entitled young men whose talk of the coming war would be "a good show". Whilst keeping house for these two untidy and very privileged boys, she learns a great deal about the world out there by listening to snippets of their conversations and reading the newspapers they have discarded.
War soon breaks out and Rosie is horrified to learn her brother Tommy and his best friend Charlie have joined up, with no real preparation of what to expect or of what's to come. Anthony and Nicholas say it will be all over by Christmas but vow to join up as soon as they have finished school, if it is still going by then. When the summer is over and the boys return to Eton, Rosie finds herself without a job. However, Anthony writes her a glowing reference and refers her to a place in London that is always on the lookout for new girls.
So Rosie packs herself off to London to the RAC club where she is given the position of live-in waitress, meaning her board and lodgings are supplied along with the job. It is here she meets the artist Gerard de Silva who was on the brink of success.
One day on her afternoon off, Rosie inadvertently finds herself at a suffragette rally where she meets Kitty Jackson and her docker brother Jim, who she describes "her lion". The three of them become inseparable friends, meeting every Thursday to go to the music hall and later fish and chips. Kitty and Rosie become best of friends, but it's Jim Rosie finds herself with unexpected feelings for. Romance blossoms between the two and one day when Kitty has to work, Jim and Rosie find themselves alone and in each other's arms beneath the tree in St James Park, that was to become a special place for them. Over the coming weeks as the war developed in France, Rosie's fears for Jim are soon realised when conscription is introduced. She tries to help him escape it but they have their first row, beneath their tree, when he tells her it is not possible. Furious with him for not listening, she storms off back to the club.
With Jim in France, Kitty and Rosie get on with life back home, treasuring every letter they receive from Jim, but still fraught with worry. It is these chapters, through Jim's eyes, that detail life in the trenches that brings the reality of the horrors these men and boys faced daily. And as the war rages on right up to its end and onwards, there is tragedy and life-changing consequences for Rosie.
EVERYBODY'S SOMEBODY brings to life the horrors of war its aftermath, the suffragette movement, the Spanish flu, flooding of the Thames as well as life in the early 20th century. Swept up in it all, Rosie has to deal with Jim suffering trauma from the war, losses in her family, financial pressures and prejudices. When she falls pregnant, she loses her job at the RAC club whose policy it is not to employ "women with child". Outraged, she captures the attention of Gerard de Silva who just so happens to be in the club at the time and offers her a job as his model. Jim is not happy and tries in vain to forbid her, but Rosie is her own woman, vowing to control all aspects of her life. It is, of course, her sitting for de Silva which leads to those four paintings mentioned in the prologue of which she is the sitter. Those paintings, though commissioned at the time, are painted over a number of years, the last one being with her two young daughters.
Throughout the story, Rosie is faced with many adversities and through them becomes stronger. Never wanting to be like her mother and producing babies every year, Rosie seeks out the early form of birth control in the "dutch cap". Growing from a headstrong impulsive child into a feisty smart woman who fights for a better life for her children, Rosie isn't perfect as she succumbs to the charms of Gerry de Silva and into his bed. Her husband Jim is a kind, gentle and dependable man, despite his grumpiness whereas de Silva is self-absorbed. To be honest, when the growing unrest in Germany in the early 30s began, de Silva being a Jew up and scarpered, I felt that that was the best thing that could have happened. I didn't like de Silva. I found him too charming and a little sleazy. I loved Jim and felt sorry for him that Rosie was deceiving him this way. But Rosie loves Jim regardless, and soon settles back into family life struggling to find work in the wake of the depression of 1929, and ends with the growing unrest in Germany with the Nazi movement in the early 30s.
The story is compelling and absorbing throughout with realistic unforgettable moments and characters that are steeped with passion and emotion. An unassuming woman, all that remains of Rosie's time on earth are those four portraits in an art gallery...and she may have been someone of no consequence but she was still somebody. Because everybody's somebody in the grand scheme of things. And Rosie sure left her mark throughout the early 20th century and into the 30s...with her life continuing through WW2 in the sequel. As well as in the paintings later displayed for the world to see.
A poignant and well-written story of one woman's journey, EVERYBODY'S SOMEBODY sweeps us through the early 1900s, through the Great War and into the 20s and early 30s. I loved the vastness of the tale spanning the early 20th century as we watch Rosie grow from the impulsive 12 year old and into a resourceful woman.
I thoroughly enjoyed EVERYBODY'S SOMEBODY and was immersed in it from start to finish. The dialect used was true to the era of the working class and was easy to follow, despite the incorrect spelling as it was written as it was pronounced. Sometimes this can be difficult to distinguish depending on the area from which they originate, but in the case of the characters here, it was very easy to follow. I also liked the fact that while the war featured it wasn't detailed in loads of history that would put the reader to sleep. There were historical facts but they were infused with the story with an expert hand.
I did, however, have a few niggles. My main one being that there was no year or date specified at the outset in the Prologue and then the ensuing chapters. I found it difficult to work out the timeline at times because of this. I felt that as the story moved the new chapter should have had the new year titled at its beginning. Sometimes it felt like I was swimming through the cloud waters of time with no clue as to where I was. While this is only a small niggle, it niggled all the same.
As EVERYBODY'S SOMEBODY concludes, Rosie has felt tragedy, love and loss through the aftermath of the Great War, the recent depression and the looming presence of Hitler and the Nazi regime on the horizon. EVERYBODY'S SOMEBODY is a superb story that you can immerse yourself in with Beryl Kingston's easy to read writing style. But I do recommend you read this one first before the sequel "Citizen Armies" .
I thoroughly recommend EVERYBODY'S SOMEBODY to any reader who enjoys historical fiction and family sagas.
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