THE MATCH

A pair of friends start a wartime female soccer team in this historical novel.

As World War I rages, friends Florrie Redford and Alice Kell assist with the effort back home in Lancashire, England, where both young women have taken jobs at the Dick Kerr Munition Works. The two have been pals since childhood, though the elfin, intelligent Alice has always been better at everything than the reliable but “hefty” Florrie. During their breaks at the factory, the women play pickup games of football (soccer) in the yard. When Alice’s boyfriend, Jack Dobson, is sent back from the front gravely injured, they visit him at the local military hospital. The hospital, which relies on donations, is overwhelmed by the tide of the returning wounded, and Alice is going mad worrying about Jack. Then Florrie has an idea on how to raise money for the soldiers: They and their co-workers at the factory can put on a football match. “If we put on a proper match, we’ll be able to sell tickets,” she explains. “Folk are always gawping at us in the yard. And it’d be for a good cause. I’m sure they’d pay a few pennies to come and watch us play a proper game.” While some of their bosses support the plan, plenty of people are offended by the idea of a female football team. Can Florrie and Alice pull it off, both for the war effort and themselves? In this series opener, Townsend’s prose is quiet and precise, capturing the texture of the time period. Here, Alice arrives home late from practice: “Earlier in the evening, heavy clouds had blotted out the stars, but now the sky was clear and a shaft of moonlight crept through the doorway ahead of her, taking her shadow with it. There was no wind, so she left the door ajar while she fumbled in the gloom for a box of matches and lit the gas lamp.” The characters are well drawn, and through their intersecting stories, the author manages to explore some of the subtler tensions of the time period, including gender, class, and cultural evolution. While the novel doesn’t quite escape its own sentimental premise, this A League of Their Own–esque story should find a receptive audience.

An immersive and engaging tale about a women’s soccer match during World War I.