Maisie Dobbs

How does Winspear portray the importance of compromise and understanding in marriage through the Comptons and the Davenhams?

How does Winspear use physical descriptions to establish the extent of wartime deprivations and losses?

How does Maisie’s relationship with Maurice differ from her relationship with Frankie Dobbs, and what does this reveal about her character?

Consider Maisie’s close friends and associates. In what ways do they push her toward growth and risk, and in what ways to they discourage her ambitions?

In what ways do the changes in Frankie Dobbs’s occupation reflect the theme of war and its social significance?

Consider the character of Adam Jenkins. In what ways is he sympathetic despite his horrific acts?

If desertion was historically associated with cowardice, how does Winspear use Maisie and other characters to advance an argument about the true nature of courage?

In what ways does the class system in Britain endure, despite Maisie’s success at transcending it?