Voting Day - Clare O'Dea

Author: Clare O'Dea

Genre: Historical Fiction, Feminism

Rating: 4.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A power-packed novella that delivers a lot of thought-provoking content within a few pages.

Story:

1st February 1959. An ordinary Sunday almost everywhere. But for Switzerland, a day where the country’s future could be rewritten. This was the day Swiss men got to vote on whether Swiss women ought to get the right of suffrage. While the men were busy deciding the fate of this historic poll, what were the common Swiss women doing? We see this through the lives of four ordinary Swiss women:

👉 Vreni – A farmer’s hard-working wife who is due for a medical procedure but is worried to leave her work behind;

👉 Margrit – Vreni’s daughter who seems successful as an office worker in Bern but is battling a troublesome issue;

👉 Esther – A hospital cleaner who has singlehandedly faced financial and other troubles since many years and is desperate to reunite with her son; and

👉 Beatrice – The hospital admin who has worked hard for the campaign to get women the right to vote.

The intertwined fate of these four women changes a part of their future on voting day, even if it wasn’t the way they had anticipated.

The story comes to us in the third person perspectives of the four women, turn by turn. Vreni’s story first, followed by Margrit’s, Esther’s and finally Beatrice’s, before a combined finale.

The writing style took me a little time to get into, especially as there were too many characters at the start. But once I got into the groove, the book kept me hooked. Though it is just 113 pages long, it is not a quick read as the content will need you to read with concentration. But it is totally worth it.

What I loved is how the book focussed on common women and provided a glimpse of how their routine lives must have been. Like when one of the characters declares, “It seems like the solution for a better life is to find a man”, you won’t accuse her for such a declaration but understand where she is coming from. The issues these women face seem very relatable, even if some of them have nothing in common with us.

The book covers a whole range of themes, and each is written without being too obvious, thereby making you use your own capacities and thought process rather than being spoon-fed by the author. I loved this approach. Active reading is so much better than a passive acceptance of ideas.

The author's note at the end reveals the background of that vote and its aftermath, and her rationale behind writing this story. Don’t skip it.

Definitely recommended.

My thanks to Fairlight Books and NetGalley for the DRC of “Voting Day”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.