BookLife Review: The Whalebone Theater by Joanna Quinn

Historical novel, theater, Dorsetshire, United Kingdom, coastal town, WWII, WAAF, Resistance

Hooray for quality historical fiction. This debut novel by Joanna Quinn is elegant, lush with details of the Southern coast of England and Dorsetshire, compelling vignettes of hardship and sacrifice from WWII France and England, and the often unseen women of the Land Army, Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and the citizen of the French Resistance.

We meet Cristabel at age 3 in post WWI England, already largely neglected and creatively independent. Fully orphaned not long thereafter she lives for a time with an attentive and affectionate uncle (who marries her cold and hapless stepmother). Blessedly our heroine is gifted with a half-sister and a cousin/brother. The triumvirate spend their mornings with tutors and governesses and their afternoons roaming the outdoors, and the nearby beach. Cristabel becomes the triad’s feisty, independent and surprisingly well-read 12 year-old tomboy leader. They devise stories and construct a theater, inviting roving artists and manor staff to join in.

Cristabel's youthful independence is the perfect training for her wartime undercover and Resistance work. She finds her calling as a spy and courier, though she struggles for respect as a female member of the team, despite her cunning, resourcefulness and skill. She later returns to Dorsetshire and rediscovers and reinvents the theater she created.