In Margot Livesey's novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, Claypoole, the boarding school that Gemma attends and works at, was originally the ancestral home of Lord and Lady Minto, where they lived until both of their sons died in the second world war (Livesely 50). The older son is said to have died in North Africa, while the younger son is said to have died in the Atlantic Convoy. The North African campaign took place mainly in the Egyptian and Libyan desserts, as well as Morocco and Algeria (wiki). This campaign was split between the "Western Dessert Campaign" and the "Tunisia Campaign" (Wiki). The war front in North Africa was fought mainly by the British Commonwealth, which is "a political association of 54 member states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire" (Wiki). 

According to Brittanica.com, "At stake was control of the Suez Canal, a vital lifeline for Britain’s colonial empire" Although, it wasn't until June 10th 1940 that Italy declared war on Britain and France, roughly four days before German forces invaded Paris (Britannica). This significantly informs my reading of The Flight of Gemma Hardy, by giving context to the ghost of Cecil, first mentioned on page 86. Miriam tells Gemma about her encounters with "a young man in a bloody uniform wandering the lower corridors" (Livesey 86). While Cecil is likely the younger son who died in the Atlantic convoy, Miriam has no real evidence of this so the ghost could just as likely be either son. This adds to the dark bildungsroman theme that The Flight of Gemma Hardy shares with Jane Eyre. The book that Cecil is reading, Kim, by Rudyard Kipling is, according to Goodreads.com, about a man, post second Afghan war who, "His aim, as he moves chameleon-like through the two cultures, is to reconcile these opposing strands, while the lama searches for redemption from the Wheel of Life" (Goodreads). Although not cultural in nature, life and death could be seen as the two opposing forces through which Cecil is attempting to reconcile. This foreshadows, and casts symbolic light on Gemma Hardy's case as she attempts to navigate the opposing forces of her own life, whether it be Ross and Miriam, her struggle between justice and conformity, or what is also for her, a matter of life vs. death, staying at Claypoole or running off, and potentially being sent to an Orphanage.

Gemma Hardy also has to be very "Chameleon-like" (goodreads) as she moves throughout Claypoole, trying to avoid punishment by Miss Bryant, and mind reading from Ross, as she attempts to visit her sick friend Miriam. It is likely that Miriam seeing the ghost also foreshadows her impending death. According to encyclopedia.ushmm.org, British Commonwealth forces lost about 220,000 means in the north African campaign (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org). It is clear, since the time period is set so close after WWII, that the inclusion of war references and the use of Cecil's ghost are a clear signifier of the dark themes within this Novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, and the ways in which it centers around death, dying, and a reconciliation of death within life.

Works Cited

Basil Liddell Hart. North Africa campaigns World War II. https://www.britannica.com/event/North-Africa-campaigns/Egypt-and-Libya-Autumn-1941-January-1943. Accessed 2/13/22

Goodreads. Kim. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210834.Kim. Accessed 2/13/22

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC. Allied Military Operations of North Africa. Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/allied-military-operations-in-north-africa#:~:text=During%20the%20entire%20North%20African,alone%20totaled%20more%20than%2018%2C500. Accessed 2/13/22

Wikipedia. Commonwealth of Nations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations. Accessed 2/13/22

Wikipedia. North African Campaign. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_campaign. Accessed 2/13/22

Image by Peter Fitzgerald - Own work based on the blank worldmap