The Eights

Author Joanna Miller
Narrator Alix Dunmore
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Run Time 10 hours and 10 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Feminism and feminist theory, FXT, Higher education, tertiary education, Historical fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Social issues.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

They knew they were changing history.
They didn’t know they would change each other.

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world’s most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms on Corridor Eight. They have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship.

Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Beatrice, politically-minded daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way – and her own friends – for the first time. Socialite Otto fills her room with extravagant luxuries but fears they won’t be enough to distract her from her memories of the war years. And quiet, clever, Marianne, the daughter of a village vicar, arrives bearing a secret she must hide from everyone – even The Eights – if she is to succeed.

But Oxford’s dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed. And as the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever.

The Eights is a captivating debut novel about sisterhood, self-determination, courage, and what it means to come of age in a world that is forever changed.

‘Entertaining and moving…I came to love these four women as though they were my sisters’ TRACY CHEVALIER

‘I ADORED it. What a fantastic read. My book of the year’ JILL MANSELL

'Beautifully captures the power of friendship ... A pleasure to read' PIP WILLIAMS, author of A Dictionary of Lost Words

'I so enjoyed The Eights' CLARE CHAMBERS, author of Small Pleasures

© Joanna Miller 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

My book of the year. The writing is wonderful, the subject fascinating and the storylines utterly absorbing. I’m so sad I’ve finished it. I loved everything about this book. I ADORED it

JILL MANSELL

I so enjoyed The Eights and became completely involved in the lives of the four pioneering heroines whose friendship is the beating heart of the book

CLARE CHAMBERS, author of Small Pleasures

I loved this story of the first women admitted to Oxford University – and its gorgeously written characters. Rooted strongly in time and place, this novel transports you

JENNIE GODFREY, author of The List of Suspicious Things

A story about women taking their place in a man’s world, The Eights beautifully captures the power of friendship and love in the wake of extraordinary loss. It was a pleasure to read

PIP WILLIAMS, author of The Dictionary of Lost Words

A heartfelt, thoughtful and engaging book about the first women students to go to Oxford University – their friendships, their secrets, their ambitions and their opponents – in the tremulous, haunted years immediately after the First World War. Joanna Miller brings 1920s Oxford to life with a vivid immediacy and makes us care deeply about four young women who find themselves pioneers in a strange new world, trying to find a way forward in the aftermath of war. A thoroughly lovely debut that will win many hearts, with its celebration of friendship and the persistence of hope

JOANNA QUINN, author of The Whalebone Theatre

These women soon become friends through the page and make me fondly and nostalgically recall that feeling of pure hope, wonder and fear as one stands on the edge of adult life simply wondering. Hoping. And wondering some more.

EMMA BARNETT

Engaging, warm and intelligent, this debut about the first women students at Oxford – their deep friendship, and all they must face – is a delight!

LUCY ATKINS, author of Magpie Lane

I loved this book. A hugely entertaining and brilliant-written novel which gives us not one, not two but four incredible female characters to root for. Meticulously researched and impeccably crafted. An entirely delightful debut

ANNA MAZZOLA, author of The Clockwork Girl

Totally immersive and captivating. This is a GLORIOUS debut and the struggles of these four women felt incredibly real. Impeccably researched and beautifully written. I ADORED it. One of my books of the year for sure.

JULIE OWEN MOYLAN, author of That Green Eyed Girl

The Eights is a beautifully life-affirming novel with wonderful characterisation. I was completely immersed in the atmospheric world of post-war Oxford that Miller has created, and rooting every step of the way for her four brilliantly inspiring heroines. I’ve no doubt it will be one of my books of the year.

HANNAH BECKERMAN

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