The Glasgow Girl at War

by Eileen Ramsay

Previously published as The Quality of Mercy.

1930s Scotland.

Growing up in a convent in Glasgow, Ferelith Gallagher dreams of bigger and better things. With no money behind her, and no family to speak of, she travels to Edinburgh to study to be a lawyer - a brave choice for a woman in the 1930s. And when she falls in love with a young fellow student, she thinks she's finally found a home.

But after a brief and disastrous marriage, Ferelith swears she is through with love, and buries herself in her studies, striving to become the first female senior advocate in Scottish history. But when she finally meets a man she knows she could be happy with, Ferelith finds herself torn between love and her career.

When war breaks out, she knows life will never be the same again . . .

Genres: Historical

416 pages, Paperback

Published December 10, 2020

About the author

Eileen Ainsworth was born on 16 December 1940 in the South-West of Scotland, where she brought up. She wrote since she was seven, but she decided become a teacher. After graduating she went to teach in the USA for a year - and stayed 18 years. She married Ian Ramsay, a Scottish mathematics scientist working on the first moon shots. They had two chidren. They returned to their native Scotland.

Her writing for children and adults has won several awards, including the Constable and Pitlochry trophies from the Scottish Association of Writers and the Romantic Novelists' Association's Elizabeth Goudge Award. In 2004 she was short listed for the Romantic Novel of the Year award.

Eileen is an honorary member of the Angus Writers Circle, was vice-president of the Scottish Association of Writers, a member of the Society of Authors and was on the committee of the Scottish branch for about six years and for four was the Secretary, and she was elected the twenty-seventh Chairman (2015-2017) of the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Ima · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved her other book the G.I. Bride but this book didn’t live up to the expectation, it was poorly executed and there wasn’t much happening overall.

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 4 out of 5]

1930s Scotland.
Growing up in a convent in Glasgow, Ferelith Gallagher dreams of bigger and better things. With no money behind her, and no family to speak of, she travels to Edinburgh to study to be a lawyer - a brave choice for a woman in the 1930s. And when she falls in love with a young fellow student, she thinks she's finally found a home.But after a brief and disastrous marriage, Ferelith swears she is through with love, and buries herself in her studies, striving to become the first female senior advocate in Scottish history. But when she finally meets a man she knows she could be happy with, Ferelith finds herself torn between love and her career.When war breaks out, she knows life will never be the same again . . .The University of Edinburgh is a public research university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 and officially opened in 1583, it is one of Scotland's four ancient universities.The university played an important role in Edinburgh becoming a chief intellectual centre during the Scottish Enlightenment and contributed to the city being nicknamed the "Athens of the North".Dame Margaret Henderson Kidd, Mrs MacDonald DBE KC was a Scottish legal advocate, editor and politician. She was the first woman to become a member of the Faculty of Advocates, the first woman advocate to appear before the House of Lords and before a parliamentary select committee and in 1948, the first British woman King's counsel.Madge Easton Anderson was a Scottish lawyer. She was the first woman admitted to practise as a professional lawyer in the UK when, in 1920, she qualified as a solicitor in Scotland.In 1909 Eveline MacLaren and Josephine Gordon Stuart became Scotland's first two female law graduates when they each obtained an LL.B degree from Edinburgh.Scotland also experienced the Blitz in Clydebank,and Greenock.The Royal Scots Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1678 until 1959.

[Norma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable.

The initial part of the book was set during the war but really the title is a bit deceiving. It’s not so much about the war as about Ferelith’s career. The book was ok but as a lover of historical fiction and particularly war time novels I have to admit being a bit disappointed

[Susan Elliot · Rating 3 out of 5]

good story of orphan who did well in adversity. valiant effort to show how difficult becoming an Advocate was - and probably still is - and have a family. felt as if the reader was being oreached at by the end of the book but nevertheless a good tale

[Di Schlenk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, just brilliant.

A story of war, love, equality and the law.

[Ruth Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely story