By Margaret Forster



Vintage, £6.99, 416pp



I wanted to read this book because a member of a friend’s book club wrote to Margaret Forster incensed that she had been duped. She had adored it, cried over it and then learnt that it was not a real diary. Forster had simply written a novel in the style of a diary.

Later editions make it clear that it is a novel. Even so, it is easy to forget. Forster’s introduction claims that it is an edited version of a diary kept by Millicent King between 1914 and 1995 and describes how she came to be in possession of it.

I simply could not treat it as fiction. In one sense it is not. Forster has researched the period meticulously and Millie’s story must reflect what really happened to so many women who lived through the two world wars. I cried too, and was cross, but I had nobody to blame but myself.



The key questions

Like many other I found this book fascinating, especially so as I have in my possession a "real live" diary written by my Step Grandmothers Sister. She wrote this every single day from the start of the 1914 - 1918 war, more intermitant between the wars and then again daily through the 2nd World War 1939 - 1945. I felt, like others, amazed and mildly shocked to discover that the story was fiction. On reflection it was an extremely good deception which must prove that it is well written and capable of convincing many of its readers that they are reading fact! Several of my friends have borrowed this book and have all had the same feelings as myself.

Sue Elliott, Lichfield, Staffs

I much enjoyed reading "Diary of an Ordinary Woman" by Margaret Forster. Yes, I knew it was fiction, because I borrowed my copy from the fiction section of our local library! I have kept a diary myself since my 14th birthday (September 1959) and unlike Millicent I write in it each night. I liked the luxury she had of being able to write a lot on days when much has happened but I do not think a true diarist would ever leave 'blank' days. Who is to judge, with the benefit of hindsight, which days are and are not important? I would criticise her for not mentioning anything about either the death of King George VI (very sudden and unexpected) nor the Queen's coronation. She mentioned the abdication in very great detail. My own diary is concerned with family doings but really important national and international events are given a mention, despite my only having five lines to write in each day. (My writing can get very small if necessary.) Margaret Forster tells a very good story of the Second World War from a woman's perspective through the pages of the diary. However a woman in those days would not have had more than one or two jobs for the duration of the war. Women, once trained in a position, were too valuable to move elsewhere. Millicent managed many different occupations - this would not have happened. However, this was a very good read and much enjoyed.

Marjorie Nicholls, Woking, Surrey

I read the book and loved every moment of it. It never occured to me that it might be a novel as I am convinced that I heard Margaret Forster talking on a radio program about how she acquired the diaries. If it is a novel, then I do feel slightly duped. However, it was an immensely enjoyable read, as have been her previous books.

Angela Scott, Weymouth, Dorset

I was really fed up when I found out that this was a novel not an autobiography. I wasn't angry, but I did feel duped. I didn't find out till I researched the book on the internet wanting to give it to my daughter and daughter in law for Christmas. I don't think I will now because I wouldn't be able to decide whether to make sure they knew it was fiction. I have only just finished the book so perhaps it's a bit soon to make my mind up. The conceit was carried through so far (even including the references at the end which were used in the 'editing') that I was completely taken in. I suppose what I truly felt was a sense of loss because Millicent became so real to me. You don't get that when you read a novel that you know is a novel.

Judy Steele, Leamington,

The things that make this book worth reading are the insights it gives into an average famly and how it was torn apart by the wars, how the members courageously dusted themselves down and got on with life, and how a woman's life was so different less than a hundred years ago. It is also revealing to look at family relationships with a telescopic vision, seeing the way they ebb and flow and how sometimes those in whom one invests the most love and time are not necessarily those who love back the most. And finally, it is engrossing to see the events of the last century - not only the world wars, but other major occurences such as the Greenham Common protests, as related by someone who was there at the time.

Leyla Sanai

I first read Diary of an Ordinary Woman just after it was published in 2003 and I admit I thought Millie’s diary was authentic. I had overlooked the words ‘a novel’ in the corner of the cover, as I was so interested in the photographs, the grocery receipt and the advertisement for growing potatoes. By the time I had finished reading the introduction, where the author decides to ‘make something’ of Millicent King’s diaries, I was totally convinced this book was non-fiction. When I realised I was mistaken, I was surprised but not upset because I thought Millie’s story so easily could have been true. In every era there are women who are ahead of their time, more liberated not only in their thoughts but in their actions too. Many women have vision but the ability to make the vision reality needs an extra quality – courage. Margaret Forster hoped to intrigue and captivate others with the thread running through Millie’s life and she has succeeded in writing fiction so convincingly. She is right to say ‘There was nothing ordinary about this woman. Indeed, I now wonder if there is any such thing as an ordinary life at all’. This is one of the most heart-warming and heart-breaking books I have read.

Jean Marshall, Bushey, Hertfordshire

I fell in to the same emotional hole that many others semmed to have done on reading this novel/diary. When I learned it was fiction I felt oddly numb, but not angry. I marvelled at Forster's ability and it led me to seek out some of her other works. And after all, if a novel is any good, don't we start to forget that it is not real anyway? Don't much loved characters become real to us? It doesn't lessen the impact for me in any way and I will carry Millicent around with me, real or artfully imagined.

Lindsey Withey, Birmingham

I read this book, as I do all Margaret Forster's books, when it first came out. I was utterly convinced it was a real diary, and was very disappointed to find this was not the case. It is both a very clever format and also a question of pulling the wool over one's eyes. She obviously did a lot of research to make it convincing, but I suppose I feel short-changed that it was not genuine - I remember telling friends of this remarkable diary, and am made to feel a wee bit stupid to have been taken in this way.

Rita Keyes, Harrow, London

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