Review: The Excitements by CJ Wray

I have discovered that I really enjoy books about feisty older people, especially older women. I don't know if it's because I myself am getting older or if there's some less obvious reason, but I do delight in the way that women who are looked over, underestimated, and treated as harmless manage to be expansive and wickedly intelligent and, by the end of their novels, the undisputed heros of their worlds. In short, they are just being the same women they were when they were younger, only sporting wrinkles and grey hair now. Getting old doesn't mean turning into a sweet old lady, not in books, and not in real life either. The two nonagenarian main characters in CJ Wray's delightful novel, The Excitements, prove that in spades.

Penny and Josephine Williamson are in their nineties. The sisters served their country during WWII and are about to go to Paris with their much beloved great-nephew Archie to be awarded the Legion d'honneur for their wartime efforts. This trip is not just a trip to France for any of the three as all of them have other connections to and memories of Paris that make the trip a fraught one.

The narrative swings back and forth from Penny and Josephine's time in the FANYs (Penny) and WRENS (Josephine) during the war, the post-war years, and the present. The story centers on the women but great-nephew Archie's past and how he came to be so connected to his aunts is also covered. Archie adores Penny and Josephine, devising "excitements" to keep their days entertaining, worrying about perceived cognitive declines, exasperated by the trouble that seems to follow the sweet, little old ladies, and dreading the day that these much loved women won't be there anymore. The aunts took Archie under their wings when he was young and have doted on him forever. But that doesn't mean that they have told him their many secrets. He has no idea what their wartime service included, no ideas about their most important loves and losses, and not a full picture of their current day activities either. All three characters are charming and as each of their backstories unfold, the various plot threads thicken deliciously and havoc ensues.

The novel starts off as pure entertainment but turns out to be filled with joy and great sorrow, touching on heavier topics than the reader might suspect. Despite that, it still maintains a madcap, caper-like feel. There's a supporting cast of irrascible elderly women veterans, shenanigans, love lost, DNA testing, social justice, the mores of the war years, especially as applied to women, and the occasional shoplifting and jewel theivery. The ending is a bit chaotic but fun, as is the spirit of the book as a whole. Reading about the Williamson sisters and their adventures is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.