Winspear's The Comfort of Ghosts

 

 

 

By Margaret S. Hamilton

 

“Maisie reflected on the passage of time and how one path had led to the next, often by chance and sometimes by intention, though invariably with a few sharp, uncomfortable turns.” (p.329)

 

Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series begins near the end of the Edwardian era and spans two world wars. Her eighteenth and final book takes place in 1945, during the aftermath of World War Two. Britain’s soldiers are returning home, many wounded and traumatized. Food and gas rationing are still in effect. Housing and consumer goods are in short supply. Large parts of London are buried in rubble.

 

Psychologist and investigator Maisie, now in her forties, with a second husband, American Mark Scott, divides her time between London and her country home in Kent, where her father Frank and his wife Brenda live with her adopted daughter, Anna.

 

Winspear constructs a plot weaving characters and their families from Maisie’s past and present lives—her first husband, James; her partner, Billy; her police and intelligence contacts; Andrew, a physician who treats traumatized war veterans; and her best friend, Priscilla, who assist Maisie with a new case. Throughout the book, Maisie reflects on how friends and family—her ghosts—have impacted her life and work.

 

In many of the books in the series, when Maisie finishes a case, she rolls up the “case map” pinned to her work table, and revisits the places involved in solving the case. In her final book, Maisie spends time in homes where she has lived—her first London flat, her first husband’s London mansion, where she worked as a young maid, and her friend Priscilla’s London home.

 

I’ve been a fan of Maisie Dobbs since her first book was published in 2003. Maisie, a combination of Anne Shirley and Sarah Crewe, is hired as a maid in a large London home owned by Lord Julian Compton in 1910. Her mentors, Lady Rowan Compton and Maurice Blanche, prepare her for a place at Girton College, Cambridge. After Maisie serves as a battlefield nurse during World War I, Maurice continues her training and helps Maisie launch her career. Billy Beale is her assistant and later, her partner.

 

As Britian rebuilds after World War II, Maisie will build a new, peacetime life and new home with her husband and daughter. I have no doubt she will help the people of Britain rebuild their lives as well. Maisie may no longer grace the pages of Winspear’s books, but she will live forever in our hearts and minds.

 

Readers and writers, how do you handle ending a series?