The Eights follows four women, Beatrice, Dora, Marianne, and Otto, who all end up living in Corridor 8 at Oxford in 1920, the first year women were officially allowed to attend. Each of them comes from a totally different background, and their friendship is messy and real.There’s still so much sexism in their way, and the emotional weight of the war lingers over everything. Some moments felt so relevant, even though it’s set over 100 years ago.

The writing pulled me in, and the pacing was strong. I wanted to know what secrets each girl was hiding, but I was just as invested in their day-to-day lives. It made me think about how many women like them existed in history but were never remembered. If you like character-driven stories about friendship, resilience, and finding your voice, this is worth picking up.

Thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for the ARC.

in 1920, four young women arrive at oxford and forge an unlikely friendship. even as they make history as part of the first class of women allowed to matriculate in the university’s 1000-year history, beatrice, otto, dora, and marianne find their experience complicated by resistance to female students, the lingering specters of world war i and the 1918-1020 flu pandemic, and their own pasts.

sometimes the ARCs you request on a whim turn out to be the best surprises! the eights is a love letter to female friendship with a truly enjoyable set of main characters. i don’t always enjoy multiple POVs because i’m often uninterested in one (or more) of the characters, but here i was genuinely interested in all four women and their perspectives. while the eights is overly predictable at times, the friendship at its heart carries the novel. it’s a perfect read for anyone looking for historical fiction that isn’t romance-centered, particularly if you’re interested in the 1910s/1920s or world war i and its immediate aftermath from a female perspective.

"The Eights" by Joanna Miller is the absorbing story of four women from very different backgrounds who meet as part of the first cohort of female undergraduate students officially admitted to Oxford University in the fall of 1920. Drawn together not only by the proximity of their rooms on Corridor 8 in St. Hugh's College but also by the shared experience of dealing with the misogynistic hazing of male students and professors in the long shadow of World War I, Beatrice, Marianne, Dora and Otto forge an unexpectedly close-knit bond as they navigate a tumultuous first year of studies, heartbreak and secrets.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book--the writing was fluid and assured, the characters interesting and believable. But what really made "The Eights" a standout to me was the meticulously conveyed period Oxford setting and the historical context of the trailblazing 1920-21 school year; Miller grounds her fictional world in closely-observed historical details that make her novel pop. Recommended for lovers of campus novels and historical fiction set in the "Downton Abbey" period.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Putnam for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the setting of Oxford University post WWI , taking the reader into the elite world of academia. My favorite genre is historical fiction and this is a book that is an example of why I love the genre so much. Many of the characters and events are actual historical figures. It is a deeply layered story with complex characters. This is a book you will savor and well worth the investment in taking the time to think, pay attention to the characters, the well written words and language. For my fellow historical fiction lovers who appreciate a well written book I highly recommend!
Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity.

A lovely story of the first women to matriculate at Oxford and their challenges of overcoming sexism, post WWI PTSD, and their own personal secrets. Overall the story is a pleasant and enjoyable but feels generally low stakes. All obstacles have a fairly straightforward solution and the women basically get what they want in life. This makes for a satisfying, albeit not entirely compelling read. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed learning about these women and getting a look into the post-war world of Oxford but I wish that there was more complexity to the central relationships.

Miller’s writing is like a warm hug: vivid, heartfelt, and packed with historical details that make you feel like you’re strolling through Oxford’s dreamy spires. The misogyny and post-war vibes hit hard, but it’s the sisterhood that steals the show, even though the pacing drags a tad in the middle. Still, I was rooting for these women throughout the whole ride. If you love historical fiction with strong female leads and a side of cozy academia, this one’s a must-read.

The Eights follows four pioneering women on corridor eight at St. Hugh’s College, among the first to attend Oxford University and graduate with degrees from the prestigious institution.

Beatrice, awkward and brainy, is the daughter of a famous suffragette. She’s determined to escape her mother’s shadow and chart her own course. Dora, whose place at Oxford was originally meant for her brother, finds herself reevaluating her future in the wake of the Great War. While fending off suitors, she quietly mourns the life she once expected. Otto, from a wealthy family, served as a nurse during the war. She knows she doesn’t want to marry her intended Teddy, but her future remains uncertain. And Marianne, the rector’s daughter, is attending on a scholarship she cannot afford to lose. Of the four, she has the most at stake.

Their friendship—unlikely at first—slowly blossoms over the course of their first year. Though they face substandard accommodations, institutional misogyny, and the persistent enforcement of the "chap rules," they come to find strength in one another. Time and again, their loyalty offers solace and courage in the face of adversity. In an era of upheaval, their bond becomes a lifeline.

This character-driven novel is a slow burn. The story’s one major twist may not shock modern readers, but in the context of the 1920s, it would have been life-altering. More than anything, the novel celebrates a powerful, aspirational friendship that carries these women through a transformative moment in history.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam, and of course the author Joanna Miller for the advanced copy of the book. The Eights is out now. All opinions are my own.

I fear nothing happened and I won’t remember these characters, except maybe Otto. There was not much depth to the plot, and it heavily relied on simply taking place at Oxford and everyone having some trauma related to WWI without going into the war that much. There were nice moments of where the women strengthened their friendships through vulnerability, however, these moments were far and few between and not enough to carry the novel.

THE EIGHTS by Joanna Miller has received positive reviews, but I struggled with the story that profiles multiple characters across multiple time periods and in multiple settings. The "eights" are named for the corridor on which they live as new undergraduates at Oxford. Beatrice Sparks, Marianne Grey, Theodora (Dora) Greenwood and Ottoline Wallace-Kerr have different backgrounds and each needs to adapt in this tale of undergraduate life. I requested this book because of its comparisons to others I had enjoyed: Helen Simonson's The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club and Kate Quinn's The Briar Club. Somehow, though, the women in this novel seem more self-centered than the ones who worked together and developed empathy and compassion more readily in the other novels. Perhaps they are simply struggling more themselves, as Dora says, "there is a blurry spot in her vision that she assumes will evaporate as soon as she reaches adulthood and her assigned future becomes clear." Sadly, THE EIGHTS has moved to my DNF pile for now.

Beatrice, Marianne, Dora, and Otto are some of the first young women to be accepted into Oxford University in the early 1920s.
The novel is strongest when presenting the university rules for this new women’s class. She also presents a realistic story about the hardship and physical and emotional scars in the aftermath of WWI.
However, much of the time I felt I was reading The Golden Girls in their 20s instead of a story about real young women. The women were too light and fluffy to be a realistic portrayal of real women in that time period.
Recommended for readers of historical fiction.

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK! Drop the mic! THE EIGHTS by Joanna Miller was both chronologically and socially significant to me.

When four women enter Oxford College in 1920, after the Great War, they are breaking the tradition of a male school and proving that they are not ‘ ‘second rate simpletons’. Dora is there in the place of her brother and fiancé who were both killed on the battlefield. Beatrice, politically minded, is the only child of a suffragette. Otto was a bad nurse during the war and is shaking off her socialite background. And finally Marianne who was raised by her father has a huge secret that she keeps from everyone at the school, including her new friends. The women are all in housed in Corridor eight within the hallowed halls of Oxford. The friendship that develops from these for very different women is not only based on education, but turning their backs on a misogynistic society. They are a force to be reckoned with!

I don’t usually enjoy novels about history and things of the past, but I am a sucker for novels about friendships bourne of great significance in that time period. I was rooting these four women on as they stepped into the historical timeline and forged ahead under very difficult circumstances. Did I say I loved this book? The writing was clear and concise and led to a very enjoyable read. I believe this is my first Joanna Miller novel, but if this is what I can expect in the future, it will certainly not be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley and G P. Putnam‘s Sons for this ARC opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

This one was a little outside of my comfort zone but something about it intrigued me and I was excited to try it but, sadly, I just couldn't get into it. I wasn't feeling connected or invested like I wanted to be.

I was disappointed - the writing was better than good, the characterizations as well, if not a bit typical and I swear I have read something so similar, but put that aside for now. The problem was that this was more a character study about four women than the academic hurdles they had to leap to become the accomplished first undergraduates of Oxford University. It was a great story of women bonding and taking on each other’s burdens and travails but I wanted more. I only wish I knew what that “more” is.

I want to thank G.P Putnam’s Sons /Penguin and NetGalley for a copy of this extremely well told and thought provoking book.

I’m not a big historical fiction reader, but recently I’ve read more than usual and happily they’ve been working for me. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦 by Joanna Miller is another such book. Set in 1920, the story follows four young women in the first class of women to be admitted to Oxford. (Women had attended classes there before, but were not awarded degrees.) Living on the same hall, the women quickly become dedicated friends. It’s several years after the end of WWI and unsurprisingly, each has been touched by the war in one way or another.⁣
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The WWI era is one I’ve become especially interested in the last couple years, which is what initially drew me to this book. Debut author Miller did a wonderful job weaving in much of the trauma and after effects of the Great War via these women and some of the men attending Oxford, too. I appreciated that and learned from her writing. ⁣
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The story of the four women and their deep friendships was good, I was engaged, but it wasn’t anything I would call unexpected. While each was interesting and likable, nothing about any of them surprised me and in that I was a little disappointed. Never-the-less, I was always eager to get back to their story and look forward to reading whatever Miller writes next. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⁣
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Thanks to @PutnamBooks for an electronic copy of #TheEights.

'The Eights' by Joanna Miller is a moving, character-rich debut set in 1920s Oxford, a time when higher education was only just beginning to open its doors to women. The novel follows four young women who arrive at the university determined to carve out space for themselves in a world that isn't quite ready to let them in. What starts as a story about ambition and academia quickly becomes a layered exploration of grief, identity, and the quiet power of chosen sisterhood.

Each protagonist is distinct and fully realized, and Miller does an excellent job rotating through their perspectives without losing momentum. Their personal stories are as gripping as the broader social context they move through - whether it's mourning the aftermath of war, navigating love in its many complicated forms, or trying to prove their worth in lecture halls full of men who don't want them there.

Miller's writing is atmospheric and thoughtful, rich with historical detail that feels lived-in rather than lectured. The pacing is deliberate but rewarding, and the emotional arcs land with quiet force. The bond between the women - tentative at first, but deepening over time - is the beating heart of the novel.

While a bit slow moving, it is an interesting time in history. The 4 main characters are among the first females to matriculate at Oxford. Just because they were allowed entrance to Oxford DID NOT mean that they were treated the same as male students. So many rules and restrictions, chaperones and curfews--Oh baby, we have come a long way. I recommend this book as good insight into post World War I life in England. Thank you to NetGalley and GP Putnam's Sons for the complimentary digital ARC. This review is my own opinion and in my own words.

This is such a great story and written so beautifully. It is about the first group of women to be accepted to study at St. Hugh's College at Oxford University, Told in two time lines it is also the story of the friendship between four women known as the Eights (because they lived at corridor eight):
Beatrice, unusually tall and the daughter of a well-known suffragist, has always struggled to meet her mother's high expectations. Dora is grieving the loss of both her brother and fiancé in the Great War. Otto, the group’s captivating leader, hides profound emotional scars beneath her intense loyalty and deep compassion for the select few she loves dearly.And Marianne, the obedient daughter of a widowed clergyman, conceals an unexpected secret.
The characters are all so endearing and their stories engaging.
A real joy to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love nothing more than a female-centered historical fiction novel with multiple POVs, and I know this will stick with me for a long time to come. I only wish the voices for each character were more distinct, but it was still a very well-written book. I often take my education for granted and this was a good reminder to be grateful for those who paved the way for us.

This is not nearly as focused on Oxford as it should have been or as I wanted it to be, but it’s a fun and charming read if you simply enjoy Historical Fiction from this time period.

This book is very focused on the personal stories of its four protagonists rather than on their specific experiences as women enrolled at Oxford in 1920, which I guess is fine if you just want a character study set in 1920 but not so great if (as the summary suggests) you wish to read about the university experience of Oxford’s first female class.

A lot of what gets in the way is how tangled up their stories are with the aftermath of the war. I’d certainly not blame the author for this issue, as at this time it’s impossible for the lives of anyone in affected areas not to have been intwined with the fallout of a recent world war. That said, there was a lot of room to either concentrate more on the academics and university life for these women, or to blend the two in a way that still centers on their studies.

It’s tough when a book is meant to pay homage to women who were effectively academic pioneers and then largely ignore their academics when building a story around them. This of course bothers me because that’s my area of interest in fiction (and the one the publishers summary led me to believe I would get), but also because we have LOADS of novels discussing the fallout of World War I, but comparatively few discussing academic life at Oxford, and almost none discussing the early academic lives of women at Oxford.

Again, this is a likable, endearing story with characters who are easy to root for, and the pacing is good. But is it truly a piece of historical fiction about the first female class at Oxford? Sadly no.

Joanna Miller's The Eights doesn't have a plot as such. Rather, it's the story of a group of women at Oxford after World War I, delving into each of their histories and gradually revealing the circumstances underlying their decisions to matriculate at Oxford. Miller's historical grounding is impeccable--the level of research she did shows. I suppose I would have appreciated more of a narrative to carry the story along, though I did find many of the women's backstories interesting. It's a thoughtful, well-researched book, but it isn't particularly enthralling.