The Girl who Dared to Dream (Girls Who Dared #1) by Diney Costeloe
Genre: Historical fiction
Read: 8th May 2025
Published: 13th October 2022
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A captivating novel from Diney Costeloe, bestselling author of The Throwaway Children and The Girl With No Name.
In London in 1912, Mabel Oakley and her family are typical of their time. Her father Andrew is a solicitor's clerk, her mother Alice keeps the home fires burning and her brothers plan to become skilled apprentices. Mabel would rather die than go into domestic service like her cousin, and is determined to train as a secretary.
But one February morning, a terrible tragedy strikes Andrew on the way to work and the lives of the Oakley family are forever changed. Swallowing her pride, Mabel takes on a position as a maid and finds it every bit as unpleasant as she expected. But when help comes from an unexpected direction, Mabel finds her dreams might not be lost after all…
MY THOUGHTS:
This is the first time I've read Diney Costeloe and I loved every page. She's an author I've often heard about but never actually picked up...until now. I will be adding her to my historical authors list, that's for sure. I love her easy style and the heartwarming essence to her characters.
1912: Fifteen year old Mabel Oakley has dreams. She wants to continue her schooling beyond the basics, to study and complete her exams and become a secretary. Her father has agreed to her going onto the secondary school and her entrance exam is set. Mabel is going places...only the direction is about to change course.
Andrew Oakley works as a senior clerk for Sheridan, Sheridan and Morrell solicitors and has done for nigh on twenty years. But a mistake made has cost him dearly, in more ways than one, and on his way home his steps in front of a brewer's dray without thinking.
Mabel is all excited that she is going to continue her schooling to become a secretary and earn a living for herself. She has been busy chattering and making plans with her mother before heading upstairs to do her homework. When she returns to the kitchen for tea, she finds her mother looking out into the street wondering what's keeping her father. He's not yet home, so maybe he's working late again.
News of Andrew's accident reaches his wife Alice by way of a neighbour and after visiting him in the hospital, she learns his fate. He will live but he will no longer walk. Alice must be strong and band their children - Mabel, Eddie and Stephen - together to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, as well as care for their father.
It isn't long before Mabel's dreams of becoming a secretary dissolve into a cloud of dust. With her father's accident and no longer able to keep his family, it's up to the rest of them to pull their weight. And so when her cousin Lizzie tells of a maid's position coming up for the family she works for in Mayfair, Mabel does what she always vowed she wouldn't do - go into service.
Mabel hates the job and misses her family. The hours are long with hardly any time off and arduous but she knows her family are relying on her. Her cousin Lizzie has given her the rundown of the house and the servants - who to watch and who to steer clear of, their employer's son Iain being one of them. And it was when she was steering clear of Iain's playful advances that she was seen coming out of a room she had no place being in. Then when she returns from a weekend off she is greeted by the stern housekeeper and accused of theft - from the room she'd previously had no business being in! Mabel swears she's innocent but one of the items was found in her bedside locker and so she was dismissed without reference.
Returning home, Mabel instead stops by her friend Mr Clarke's in the printshop by the railway and confides in him - how miserable she is and of the accusations against her. He listens with a friendly ear, gives advice and tells her that it's not forever, that things will get better; that there may be something better for her on the horizon. But Mabel can't see it just now. All she knows is that she had a job she hated and now she has let down her family who were relying on her income. What was she going to do?
This is a heartwarming and touching tale from start to finish. The author pens her characters with such warmth while others with abhorrence. It is easy to feel sympathy where it's due and none where it isn't. She delivers a heartfelt story of a working class family and their struggles, and one girl's strength and determination to rise above her odds.
I picked up this book as I had the second one to read but on discovering this came first I decided to read them in order. And I'm glad I did.
Perfect for fans of Dilly Court, Catherine Cookson and Francesca Capaldi.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
She says, "Encouraged by my publisher father, I have been writing all my life. When I was five, he took my first effort to his office and brought it back in a cardboard cover with the label, 'Tom's Party'written by Diney, published by Daddy. I've never looked back and always have some writing on the go."
When Diney left school she trained as a primary school teacher, and taught in the East End of London and in Somerset.
She has three children and seven grandchildren, so is always busy with the family.
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