It’s 1914 and Peggy Jones is unsatisfied. A bookbinder working for an Oxford press, she would like to enroll in the university and study the books that she’s assisted in printing, but social restrictions and family obligations—especially those to her twin sister, Maude—render this unlikely. In the ensuing four years, as life is upended for millions, Peggy will fall in love, take difficult exams, and face crushing disappointments. The brilliance of Pip Williams’s achievement lies in her gift for meticulous storytelling—the steady and patient building of a world through character and setting. Williams is a master of her craft, and this is a novel to be savored.