10 Books You May Have Missed This Summer

Crop of the cover of Radio Girls, by Sarah-Jane Stratford. Image via publisher NAL

10. Radio Girls

This probably qualifies as a surprise, since it’s historical fiction, though it does have a dose of mystery added in for flavor.

Whether you’re a Whovian or a Great British Bake Off aficionado, you’ve probably watched something coming from the BBC in recent years. Sarah-Jane Stratford’s Radio Girls is not about the BBC of today, if the cover (or title) didn’t tip you off.

No, we start off in 1926, and our heroine, Maisie Musgrave, has just landed a job at the nascent British Broadcasting Corporation as a secretary, because this is 1926 and that’s the kind of job women expected to land.

However, Maisie won’t settle for being just a secretary. As she starts to arrange broadcasts, Hilda Matheson, the director of the Talks programs, takes notice of her, despite also being involved in a fight with the BBC’s Director-General about what radio should be. When they discover a conspiracy, Maisie and Hilda join forces.

Goodreads reviews call it “first-rate historical fiction,” since Hilda Matheson is, in fact, a real person, though Maisie Musgrave is not. Expect to do some serious searching about all of the historical figures featured. Another reviewer flat-out calls it “unapologetically feminist” in its look at the beginnings of the BBC.

NAL; paperback, 384 pages.

Next: 9. Star Wars: Bloodline