This month I reviewed Daffodils by Alex Martin. Daffodils are among the first perennials to bloom after winter. The flower symbolizes rebirth, renewal, and new beginnings. It also represents hope, joy, and resilience. It’s fitting that Martin selected Daffodils as the title of the first book in her Katherine Wheel series.
Every politician and general should read this book before they decide to start a war.
Instead of focusing on military strategies and famous leaders, Martin shows us the human cost of lives, families destroyed, social upheaval, and the physical and psychological wounds caused by war.
In this book series the inhabitants of a sleepy village in rural Wiltshire, England are rigidly divided into social classes. The Smythe and Ponsonby families represent the upper class. Members of the clergy are typically of noble birth and there is a merchant class of business owners, physicians, and lawyers. The Phipps and Beagle families are working class.
Young Katy Beagle and Jem Phipps work for the Smythe family. Katy is intelligent and restless. Jem is steady and happy to work as a gardener. Having grown up together, it’s expected that they will marry. Katy loves Jem, but she dreams of seeing the world. Jem dreams of only Katy.
When World War I breaks out, lives change quickly. Sir George Smythe the presumed heir to the manor enlists after being expelled from University over a scandal. He sees Katy as a fun diversion before he ships out. Though nothing more torrid than a kiss occurs, Katy is disgraced and loses her job.
After she marries Jem, she discovers that he is the love of her life, but typhoid and the war intervene to shatter their happiness. Katy’s brother Albert enlists and goes to France to fight the Germans. Realizing that it’s only a matter of time before married men will be drafted, Jem also volunteers.
Though he never aspired to leave his hometown or become anything other than a gardener, Jem enjoys meeting new people and seeing more of the world. He’s a clever and courageous soldier who impresses his superiors. Soon he gets promoted and earns a medal for saving his commander’s life, but the futility of war and thoughts of his beloved Katy weigh heavily on him in the trenches.
Katy joins a local aid group that makes socks and rolls bandages, but she wants to do more. When news comes that one of her family is missing in action and presumed dead, Katy is determined to go to France and learn about their fate. Could they still be alive? Were they captured? Could they be in a POW camp? Perhaps they were one of the nameless bodies swallowed by the muddy Earth with their foes and fellow soldiers?
She asks the vicar for information about women’s groups in London where volunteers can care for the wounded, drive or repairs ambulances, or work in factories as replacements for the men who are fighting in France. When Katy learns that Sir George’s sister, Cassandra, has become an ambulance driver, she wants to do her part as well and joins the WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps).
On the way to London Katy meets Ariadne, a young noblewoman who is also joining the WAAC. After Katy is turned down by the nursing division, she and Ariadne end up working in the ambulance corps where Katy becomes a skilled mechanic.
In France they meet up with Cassandra and the three bond despite their social differences. They help each other through the death and despair of the war.
I’m purposely being vague because spoilers would ruin it for the reader.
Martin has interwoven the rigid social structure of prewar England with the changes brought on by the emergence of the automobile, the first World War, and women’s suffrage. She’s also created a beautiful love story.
I don’t think I’ll ever look at daffodils the same way, again.
Novels by Alex Martin:
The Twisted Vine
The Katherine Wheel Series:
Daffodils: Book One (2014)
Peace Lily: Book Two (2014)
Speedwell: Book Three (2015)
Willow: Book Four (2019)
Woodbine: Book Five (2020)
Ivy: Book Six (2020)
Spirit Level Series:
The Rose Trail (2016)
Triskellon (2021)
Warrior Queens (2024)
Saturday Happened Series:
Saturday Happened (2025)
The Keys of Maple Ridge (2025)
Burn Window (2025)
Trio: A Collection of Three Short Stories (2015)