Undiscovered Scotland

 

"The Devil’s Draper" by Donna Moore is a compelling novel which explores the role of women in the workplace in the 1920s and tackles the injustice, discrimination and sexual abuse faced by those women. But "The Devil’s Draper" is so much more than that and readers should not be deterred by the seriousness of the underlying message. This truly is an uplifting book and the story it tells is both a heartwarming and, at times, funny tale of the lives of three women living in the aftermath of The Great War.

Based in Glasgow, the story follows three very different women as they adapt to life after the war. Mabel is from a wealthy family, but has chosen to work as a policewoman. Though that is her title her role is very much one of ‘backroom girl’, in the truest sense of the words. She occupies a tiny cupboard of an office and spends her day taking statements from members of the public, mostly women whose cases will never be followed up. Opportunities to get out and do some real policing are denied to her, because she is a woman, and few of her colleagues treat her with any respect.

Johnnie is a member of the Glasgow girl gang, the St Thenue’s Avengers. She spends her days pickpocketing and shoplifting from Glasgow’s well to do. The Glasgow department stores of Arroll’s, Copland & Lye and Treron’s are her stamping ground and she is good at what she does, being something of a chameleon and a master of disguise.

Beatrice, who lost her husband and son in the war has moved to Glasgow to create a new life for herself. Finding jobs for middle aged women hard to come by she sets up her own women’s employment agency and discovers she has a talent for assessing her clients and placing them in suitable positions. But when some of Beatrice’s girls fail to last in the jobs she has placed them in and it emerges that some have left after being abused by their employer, her path first crosses with Mabel.

Meanwhile Johnnie becomes concerned when one the younger members of the gang, Meg, goes missing and she makes it her mission to find out what has happened to her. By a series of coincidences, the three women end up coming together to flush out a killer.

This reader really enjoyed the pace and drama of this book. The characterisation is excellent and the action is grounded in its setting. Glasgow in the 1920s is a real star, alongside the well formed and realistic women whom Donna Moore has chosen to feature in her book. I will certainly be seeking out Donna’s earlier work, "The Unpicking", and look forward to another excellent read.