ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – The Railway Girls by Maisie Thomas

Posted on 11th August 2026 By Nicola

The Railway Girls by Maisie Thomas is published by Penguin and is available now. I purchased my own copy. Maisie/Susanna Bavin/Polly Heron is a real favourite of mine and she very kindly sent me the rest of the series (along with some of her other books) so I have them all on my shelf to look forward to.

In February, 1922, at the western-most entrance to Victoria Station in Manchester, a massive plaque was unveiled. Beneath a vast tiled map showing the lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway network, a series of seven bronze panels recorded the names of the men of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway who gave their lives for King and Country in the Great War – a total of 1,460 names.

In March, 1940, a group of women of varying ages and backgrounds, stand in front of the memorial, ready to do their bit in this new World War…
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Mabel is determined to make a fresh start as a railway girl where no one will know the terrible thing she did and she can put her guilt behind her… Or is she just running away?

Meanwhile Joan will never be as good as her sister, or so her Gran keeps telling her. A new job as a station clerk could be just the thing she needs to forget her troubles at home.

And Dot is further into her forties than she cares to admit. Her beloved sons are away fighting and her husband – well, the less said about him the better. Ratty old sod. She is anxious to become a railway girl just like her dear mam – anything to feel she is supporting the sons she prays for every night.

The three women start off as strangers, but soon form an unbreakable bond that will get them through the toughest of times…

Embarking on a new Maisie Thomas series – what a treat! The Railway Girls begins in February 1940 with a group of women joining the railways to do their wartime duty. Although we get to know all the women, there are three whose stories take centre stage. Mabel is still struggling with grief over a terrible event that she believes herself responsible for. Her parents aren’t keen on her being a railway girl but she manages to persuade them. Joan lives in the shadow of the sister whom her gran quite obviously prefers and her gran’s censure in general puts a dampener on pretty much everything. Then there’s Dot, one of the older ‘girls’ who becomes a guiding influence to the younger ones but who is put upon at home, so being out on the railways gives her life the purpose it was lacking.

I absolutely LOVED this book. It was such a joy to read and has it all. It’s emotional in places and, as expected in wartime, there are sadnesses as well as happy times. It also made me smile as there are some deliciously romantic moments and I laughed too, particularly when some of the girls attend a first aid course and they have to undertake a practical as if it was a real bombing and they had lives to save. Even though it was a serious test it turned out to be extremely humorous.

I didn’t want to put The Railway Girls down and as I raced towards the end I was consoled by knowing I have the rest of the series ahead of me, one of the benefits of coming to it late. I can’t wait to see what happens next for the lovely characters. There have already been heartbreaks and no doubt there will be more to come, but what is clear is that the Railway Girls are brave and united, with adventures aplenty ahead of them.

Maisie Thomas was born and brought up in Manchester, which provides the location for her Railway Girls novels. She loves writing stories with strong female characters, set in times when women needed determination and vision to make their mark. The Railway Girls series is inspired by her great-aunt Jessie, who worked as a railway clerk during the First World War.

Maisie now lives on the beautiful North Wales coast with her railway enthusiast husband, Kevin, and their two rescue cats. They often enjoy holidays chugging up and down the UK’s heritage steam railways.