02576nam a22002777i 45000010018000000050017000180080041000350200028000760200035001040400029001390410012001681000036001802450034002162640033002505040041002835201639003246480045019636500054020086500026020626500023020886500041021116510030021529420008021829520093021909990015022839911843015450434120250828073243.0250424s2025    enk      b    000 f eng d  a9780241662434qhardback  a9780241737668qtrade paperback  aStEdNLbengerdacStEdNL  aEnglish  aMiller, Joanna,d1969-eauthor.14aThe eights c/ Joanna Miller. 1a[London] :bFig Tree,c2025.  aIncludes bibliographical references.  aThey knew they were changing history.
They didn't know they would change each other.

Following the unlikely friendship of four of the first ever women to matriculate at Oxford University in the aftermath of the First World War, a captivating debut novel about sisterhood, self-determination and the many forms courage can take.

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world's most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne and Otto (collectively known as The Eights) have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship.

Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Politically-minded Beatrice, daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way - and some friends her own age. Otto was a nurse during the war but is excited to return to her socialite lifestyle in Oxford - where she hopes to find distraction from the memories that haunt her. And finally Marianne, the quiet, clever daughter of a village pastor, who has a shocking secret she must hide from everyone, even her new friends, if she is to succeed.

But Oxford's dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed. And as the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever. 0aWorld War, 1914-1918vFictionxInfluence 0aWomen college studentsvFictionzEngland zOxford 0aGriefvFiction924357 0aSuffragists925811 0aFemale friendship – Fiction925456 0aOxford (England)vFiction  2lcc  00102lcc4070aTBSbTBSd2025-08-28l0oP-EN MILpB05642r2025-08-28t1w2025-08-28y1  c4886d4886