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Opal Plumstead

Book Synopsis

Opal Plumstead might be plain, but she has always been fiercely intelligent.

Yet her scholarship and dreams of university are snatched away when her father is sent to prison, and fourteen-year-old Opal must start work at the Fairy Glen sweet factory to support her family.

She struggles to get along with her other workers, who think she’s snobby and stuck up.

But Opal idolises Mrs Roberts, the factory’s beautiful, dignified owner. The best thing about Mrs Roberts?

She’s a suffragette!

Opal’s world is opened to Mrs Pankhurst, and the fight to give women the right to vote.

And when Opal meets Morgan, Mrs Roberts’ handsome son , and heir to Fairy Glen- she believes she’s found her soulmate.

But the First World War is about to begin, and will change Opal’s life for ever.

A brilliantly gripping wartime story from the bestselling, award-winning Jacqueline Wilson.

Our Review Panel says...

Fiction meets political history in this gripping and moving story from popular author Jacqueline Wilson. When Opal’s father is sent to prison, Opal must start work at the Fairy Glen sweet factory instead of following her dreams of going to university. But when Opal meets the legendary Mrs Pankhurst and her fellow suffragettes, she gains a growing awareness of just how far these women will go to pursue their democratic rights. Set during a significant turning point of British history when the Votes for Women movement was gaining traction and WW1 was about to begin, Opal Plumstead is an important book that offers an insight into how the suffrage movement helped to shape British democracy and one that carries a powerful message about fighting for what you believe in.