Hazel

Hazel - Julie Hearn The sequel to Ivy (actually it's Ivy: the Next Generation) It's an interesting story set in 1913, just before the war and England is a fairly Victorian world. Hazel is in a small school for young ladies and she's being taught to be a wife, to expect that she should marry well. She knows little about her mother's past. Her world changes when a sufragette steps out in front of the King's horse, dying later from her injuries. Hazel's father had a lot of money riding on that horse and now things have to change. She will have to get married to a wealthy man, particularly as her father is broken by the events. She gets sucked into action by one of her classmates that means that she's sent to her father's parents in the Caribbean to learn to be a proper "lady". There she finds truths that's she not prepared for and this changes her again. It's an interesting coming-of-age story with some very interesting subtexts that make it quite complex on one level and somewhat over-stated on others.