ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – The Home Front Girls by Susanna Bavin
The Home Front Girls is the first in a new series by Susanna Bavin. I’m a bit late to the party (despite Susanna’s best efforts) and so book two, Courage for the Home Front Girls is already out, and book three, Christmas for the Home Front Girls is out at the end of this month (30th September). My thanks to Susanna for sending me a copy for review and for being so patient!
The war is raging in Europe. These girls will do everything they can on the home front – but is a happy ever after possible in such dark and uncertain times?
Manchester, 1940: The minute war was declared, best friends Sally and Deborah volunteered for the home guard, willing to do anything to help their boys fighting overseas. An Auxiliary Fire Service girl by night, Sally ends up stationed at the salvage depot by day. Working amidst the scrap metal and waste paper, helping to make do and mend, isn’t quite the glamorous life in uniform she’d imagined! But she’s determined to do her best, and turn saucepans into Spitfires.
When Sally meets Andrew, a quiet carpenter with a heart-breaking smile who understands how important her work is, she finally feels as though her efforts to keep calm and carry on are making a difference. As love blossoms, Sally feels herself opening up to Andrew in a way she’d never imagined possible.
But then, just as Sally feels as hopeful as she can be in these times of war, a devastating air raid threatens everything she holds dear. As bombs rain down all over Manchester, deadly fires begin to destroy homes, and lives. With Andrew out rescuing families from the rubble, Sally rushes towards the plumes of smoke that fill the night sky. And is horrified to realise the very worst hit area has the salvage yard right at its heart.
Desperate to help in any way she can, Sally, with her fellow salvage girls by her side, sets to work. But what will they find when the smoke clears? Will Sally and Andrew get the happy ending they so deserve? Or will her one chance at true love be lost forever as the morning dawns…?
A completely gripping and heart-breaking romantic saga. Perfect for fans of Rosie Clarke, Nancy Revell and Lizzie Lane.
The Home Front Girls is book one in a brand new series. Sally White enjoys her work at the Food Office alongside her best friend, Deborah. It seems as though Sally’s future is planned out with Deborah’s brother but when things go awry she ends up taking on a role in a salvage depot – saucepans for Spitfires! She meets a new friend, Betty, and a new man, Andrew, a teacher and carpenter. Life is looking up for Sally.
This is quite a gentle story but the horrors of war are never far away. The girls also learn to be fire watchers and have to deal with incendiaries and fires during the nights. Their pluck really jumps off the page and I loved the way Sally and Betty got over a rocky start and became good friends.
This first book sets the scene and introduces the characters well. I feel like I got to know them and I want to know what happens to them next (which is lucky because book two is already out and book three is on the way very soon). The Home Front Girls is the sort of book that draws me into the world it’s set in. It put me right there in 1940, in WW2 Manchester, with the phoney war over at last and bombs dropping all over. I can only imagine how Sally and Betty must have felt looking over the landscape from the roof of the depot, wondering if their home had been struck and if their relatives were safe.
I always enjoy Susanna Bavin’s books and this one is no exception. There’s love, friendship and family, but there’s also conflict and sadness. I’m looking forward now to catching up with Sally and Betty again and seeing where life and the war takes them next.
Susanna Bavin has written 4 standalone sagas and her new WW2 trilogy, The Home Front Girls, will be published by Bookouture in 2024. She also writes as Polly Heron (The Surplus Girls 1920s saga series) and Maisie Thomas (The Railway Girls WW2 saga series)
Susanna lives on the beautiful North Wales coast with her husband and their two rescue cats. She is originally from Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Manchester, where her family has lived for several generations and which provides the setting for her family sagas.
www.susannabavin.co.uk
www.facebook.com/MaisieThomasAuthor
