This book was so poor.
The writing was so basic and the plot was lacking something.
This book bored me so much.

I was not able to get interested in this book and I did not finish it. The characters and the plot were not able to catch or keep my attention

This was such a fun read. I really enjoyed the political and historical thriller parts, it an easy read for me. I couldn't put it down. It's genre is historical fiction but it seems to have some true parts. It definitely read as a "true" book.

I was shocked that the people were real people and these things were actually happening. It was a very exciting and engaging book.

My thanks to NetGalley for this advance copy.

I love historical books that merge truth with fiction and particularly those with an element of politics. This is a great novel well researched and easy to read, flowing from one event to another one in a smooth process. So if you are into Alternative History, or Political novels or even just into a great story then the latest novel by Alex Rosenberg’s book then you should read this book.

this was a really interesting read, I enjoyed the time period and the characters within it. I look forward to reading more from the author.

With real political characters woven into an alternative history, this is an intriguing novel about a well-known, pioneering British Labour Party MP during the inter-war years. Jennie Lee was a Scottish trail blazer in the Labour Party politics with a turbulent personal life and connections to royalty. This is a highly engaging read.

I liked this novel though the plot could be a little hard to follow at times and some characters were hard to distinguish from others.

A thought-provoking story that had me hooked from the beginning, weaving the politics of a very specific period in history with the personal life a young, strong, charismatic, idealistic female politician. The story explored the nuances of democracy and socialism, as well as gender and family. While the beginning seems to be historically accurate, it does become historical fiction, and I just wished I knew more about where exactly it diverges and what actually happened. That being said I definitely enjoyed and would recommend The Intrigues of Jennie Lee.

As someone born in the UK and a degree in History, I have prior knowledge of almost all of the existing characters. Could I suggest the possibility of the index of characters at the beginning of the book for those who do not understand British politics. This is a well written and well researched novel, capturing the period, the mores of the society at a time of great change in behaviours and class distinction.

I thought The Intrigues of Jennie Lee was a pretty good read. I like it and am giving four and a half stars.

A fascinating historial novel set in Britain in the 1930's, Jennie Lee, the main character is young and female in a man's world. She is strong and clever and is caught up in political intrigue that could change the course of history. We get a glimpse of behind the scenes pollical life at that time and are drawn into Jennie Lee's character who is driven to get what she wants - almost at any cost. If you like historical novels, you would enjoy this book. I would rate it a 4 out of 5.

Very readable but the style is a little too simple for my tastes. Also I was irritated at the misuse of titles. The correct usage should have been researched. eg Nancy Astor is Lady Astor not Lady Nancy.

Interesting background details for Jennie Lee though - I knew very little of her before reading this. However, I did feel the need to check for the actual facts elsewhere - which was probably a good thing but jerked me out of the novel each time.

Sorry I can't be more enthusiastic - probably just me.

The book starts out in 1904 with the seduction of Labour Leader, Ramsay Mac Donald, by a Scottish Hotelier wife who, 9 months later gives birth to Jenny Lee. No-one is to know of this indiscretion. As the daughter of a miner’s union leader, she’s interested in politics and socialism from an early age on and in 1929 she’s elected as an MP for Labour. Her maiden speech makes an impression on Sir Oswald Mosley and the attraction is mutual. She also has a long-lasting affair with fellow MP, Frank Wise.
When she goes on a trip through Russia as a part of the Labour delegation, she’s seriously disorientated by what she sees and experiences there. She’s still certain about what she wants for everybody but doesn’t really know how to get there any longer. When she goes on a lecture tour through America and Canada, she also experiences the good and bad sides of life over there.
After the Wall Street crash in 1930, Mosley who was on the left side of the party (as Jenny also is) has revolutionary ideas about how to deal with the mass unemployment but the Labour Leader doesn’t want to know about it. Eventually, he’s put outside of the party and begins his own new political party
Also unknown to the rest of the world, when she was a child she befriended the aristocratic Elisabeth Bowes-Lyon (yes, we know her now as the queen mom) who’s now married to King George’s second son, Albert. Elizabeth hasn’t forgotten Jenny and takes an interest in her political career. And when her husband secretly and illegally wants to support the politics of Mosley, Jenny is forced (between blackmail and friendship) to act as a go-between.
Apart from being the secret daughter of Mac Donald and the friendship with the Duchess of York, the historical facts are rigidly observed until this point. It’s here that both versions part their ways. When Jenny learns about the intended betrayal of her party’s leader, she has the opportunity to act and by doing so, she changes (unknowingly) the course of history. But is this a change for the better? What if it’s the start of something that’s worse?

I love historical books that merge truth with fiction. Certainly, those books that make you ask yourself “what if?” this or that happened differently, what would have been the immediate effects and what would it mean on a longer plane? The former can be scientifically calculated, but for the latter, you must not only start out with a whole new premise but also count various unknown variables into the equation.
I must admit that I’ve done quite a lot of looking up while reading this book. Although the main characters were familiar, I’m not all that well versed in British interbellum period politics. Actually, it was a delight to get to know those colourful people that populate the historical reality and see what the author has done with those facts in an alternate universe. It’s not as if you won’t enjoy the book if you don’t know those things, but for me, it brought an extra enjoyment that I did a bit of reading about the period and the people.
The differences between life in the early Soviet Union, America and Britain are clearly described and the inequality that exists in each model gives food for thought. If not for the war, how would each society have evolved? The desperation in Russia, the racial segregation and blatant racism in the USA as the stark difference between the aristocracy and the working/unemployed masses in Britain all contained a basic injustice that could have been the feeding ground for a revolution.

This is an amazing historical political thriller of high quality that is written in an entertaining style. Politics are constantly mentioned but not in a boring or pedantic way. After all, it’s important to know who those people are and what they stand for. Jenny Lee is a charming and engaging character and was so in real life. This book possesses every quality to be made into a period movie or TV-series. If they do, I’ll certainly watch.
I thank NetGalley and John Hunt Publishing Ltd for the free ARC they provided and this is my honest review of it.

The 'Intrigues of Jennie Lee' is alternative history novel about a well-known, pioneering British Labour Party MP during the 1920s and early thirties. Jennie Lee, a dynamic, well-educated young Scot, was elected to Parliament before she was of voting age (at that time) and went on to become a significant public figure championing the democratisation of the Arts and improved access to education for the working class. I knew all this before I started this novel so I was looking forward to reading a behind the scenes account of her life by an academic historian.
Author Alex Rosenberg recreates the epoch well, showing the hope Labour Party supporters and MPs had regarding social improvements, and the devastating ripple effects of the of 1929 Wall Street Crash. The ‘intrigues’ aspect of the story revolve around Jennie Lee’s romantic liaisons and political conniving at Westminster. The major intrigue, however, is her connection to the infamous Sir Oswald Mosely, who became the leader of the British Union of Fascists.
The book rests on documented history, but Mr Rosenberg takes the story into the fictional dimension from the opening chapter, where readers witness a dubious and for me highly unlikely scene between Ramsay MacDonald, urbane Leader of the Labour Party, and Jennie’s mother, a miner’s wife, which results in Jennie’s conception. In a subsequent early chapter he presents a friendship between the future Queen of England, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and our rising eponymous socialist heroine - who is from a mining community. Knowing too much, perhaps, about the period, I found it impossible to suspend disbelief, although I’m willing to accept that strange coincidences and surprising friendships do occur in real life.
Having said that, if you are interested in this critical period in British social history this is a good story. Rosenberg's not-impossible twist - putting Oswald Mosely and his Fascist support centre stage - could have happened. From this point on 'The Intrigues of Jennie Lee' becomes an enjoyable, exciting thriller.
(This was an ARC: there were a number of formatting problems in the Kindle ebook I read, but these were relatively easy to overlook.)

This book is a look at “what if this happened” within British politics in the early part of the 20th Century. As a historical fiction, author Alex Rosenberg has taken the liberty to rewrite history and create a political storm. Centered in this drama is Jennie Lee, who has so many secrets than one false move could cause her entire career to come crashing down.

This was my first meeting with almost all of the characters, and it is a bit sad to realize that I didn’t learn as much about this era in British politics as I would have liked. Mr. Rosenberg’s imagination makes up for that, and as the story began to unfold I found myself drawn into the action. When you consider her political work as well as her after hours trysts, Jennie has more on her plate in her first few year in politics than most of us can imagine handling in a lifetime.

While definitely a work of fiction, “The Intrigues of Jennie Lee” captures the politics of the day and offers a glimpse of a woman’s efforts to navigate the political waters at a time in history when a woman elected to public office was more of a rarity than it is today. Four stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and John Hunt Publishing for a complimentary electronic copy of this book.

For a historical political novel this is a remarkable story and I found myself reluctant to put it down. It is full of historical and political information, but also romance and intrigue. I highly recommend this book for the authors distinct ability to create an interesting novel out of what can be a dull subject. Who would suspect such infidelity in members of parliament in such times!

An intriguing picture of British political procedures and the people who drove them in the early 1900's. True to life figures have been set in a fictional story that still manages to be a very good story of the time. Jennie Lee became a member of Parliament before she could legally vote. Insuring her voice was heard as a representative of all women, she lived a fascinating life. Many readers will recognize characters in this book as this era in Britain has been well documented. I found the book well written and could easily read another by this author.

One of those fascinating, but often strangely irritating books in which real life history and out-and-out fiction collide to create a tale that is both larger than life and somehow diminished by it. The tale itself is enjoyable enough, and exciting in places, and if you can resist the temptation to keep running to the reference books just to see if this or that happened, it'll definitely hold your attention. At the same time, though, as you plough through your research, you can't help thinking a novel built around reality would have been even more gripping.

I liked the general concept, and I’m always on the lookout for stories about women accomplishing great things despite the odds. And Jennie Lee is pretty awesome in getting elected to Parliament before women could vote. But I didn’t find this book that engaging. I don’t know a ton about British politics beyond the basics, particularly in this period, and it didn’t do much to immerse me. It might work better for someone with more experience of the British political system, but it did not work for me,