WINSPEAR, Jacqueline 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born 1955, in Kent, England; married.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Ojai, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Soho Press Inc., 853 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

CAREER:

Novelist; formerly worked in publishing, London, England.

WRITINGS:

Maisie Dobbs, Soho Press (New York, NY), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

More novels featuring the character Maisie Dobbs.

SIDELIGHTS:

After working in publishing for several years, British-born author Jacqueline Winspear moved to California in 1990 and embarked upon a fiction-writing career. Her first novel, Maisie Dobbs, was published by New York City-based Soho Press in 2003 as the planned first novel in a multivolume series.

Winspear's debut novel opens in early 1929, as Maisie Dobbs hangs out her shingle as a private investigator. One of the newly minted P.I.'s first clients is a man who employs Maisie to follow his evasive wife, hoping to find out whether she is still faithful to him. As Maisie undertakes this assignment, Winspear's story line intermittently tracks back, along with her protagonist's own thoughts, into Maisie's past, revealing the woman's complex character.

Maisie, who worked as a ladies' maid after her mother died during her early teens, was recognized for her intelligence, and with the help of her forward-thinking aristocratic employer she received the training to help her break out of a life of service. Attending Cambridge University's Girton College for women, she left to serve as a nurse on French battlefields during World War I, and fell in love with a young doctor, who mysteriously disappeared. This mystery from the past quickly links back with Maisie's present, as her client's wife is discovered to be somehow involved with the Retreat, a secret organization for soldiers still traumatized by the war.

Noting that Maisie Dobbs was inspired by Winspear's grandparents, "who were both injured during World War I," Library Journal contributor Caroline Hallsworth cited the novel as "a poignant and compelling story that explores war's lingering and insidious impact on its survivors." Hallsworth praised Winspear's "simple, effective prose" and "compassionate sensitivity" and noted, favorably, that the novel does not descend into the maudlin. In Kirkus Reviews a contributor was less enthusiastic, finding Maisie Dobbs somewhat "convenient and contrived." BookLoons reviewer G. Hall had more positive comments about the novel, praising Winspear for bringing "a complementary female perspective to bear on this very traumatic time in British history" and calling Maisie Dobbs "a welcome addition to the mystery field." In School Library Journal, Susan H. Woodcock also enjoyed Winspear's work, writing that the "strong protagonist and a lively sense of time and place carry readers" of Maisie Dobbs "along."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2003, review of Maisie Dobbs, p. 713.

Library Journal, March 15, 2003, Caroline Hallsworth, review of Maisie Dobbs, p. 118.

Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2003, review of Maisie Dobbs, p. 55.

School Library Journal, December, 2003, Susan H. Woodcock, review of Maisie Dobbs, p. 177.

ONLINE

BookLoons,http://www.bookloons.com/ (October 13, 2003), G. Hall, review of Maisie Dobbs.

Books 'n' Bytes,http://www.booksnbytes.com/ (October 13, 2003), Harriet Klausner, review of Maisie Dobbs.

Soho Press Web site,http://www.sohopress.com/ (May 15, 2004).*