World War II

Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure

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Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure by Rhys Bowen

Ellie Endicott is surprised at breakfast one morning in 1938 when her husband Lionel tells her of his plans to get a divorce and marry a younger woman named Michelle. Also, he wants the house that Ellie has furnished and decorated over many years. Ellie can, perhaps, have a small cottage by the train station instead. After decades in Surrey, southwest of London, Ellie has had enough. Her household help, Mavis, and older, outspoken Dora encourage her to make a fresh start.

They all end up in Lionel’s Bentley, heading for the south of France. They wind up in St. Benet, a small fishing village, along with scared and pregnant Yvette. Ellie speaks excellent French, and Dora speaks enough, while Mavis is willing to learn. They find rooms in a guesthouse just getting ready to close for the season, and get to know the villagers. Then the war begins, and Lionel and their grown sons encourage Ellie to come home again.

The village and the scenery are beautifully described, along with the larger hillside house Ellie decides to rent and restore, with help from the villagers. As the war progresses, they acquire a pair of goats, chickens, and a beehive. Ellie learns to drive a speed boat and occasionally visits a monastery on a nearby island. Dora’s failing health improves and Yvette’s baby arrives. There are no battles in St. Benet, so the plot is mostly about life and food in southern France during the occupation, making do, trading food, and helping the resistance. Also, unexpectedly, finding love. Ellie is resilient and very good company for the reader. Not every villager makes it through the war years, and there is certainly danger and hardship, but Ellie is still happy with her choice to stay in St. Benet. Splendid storytelling with a strong sense of place makes this a good choice for readers of World War II fiction on the homefront.

Brenda

Dear Miss Lake

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Dear Miss Lake by AJ Pearce

Another Emmy and Bunty book! This is the fourth novel set in wartime London, where journalist Emmy Lake is trying her hardest to help the readers of Woman’s Friend magazine cope until peace arrives. Starting in July 1944, the war in Europe is being won by the Allies, but times are still tough for the soldiers, nurses, and everyone on the homefront.

Emmy and her brother-in-law move the staff of the magazine, along with their spouses and three children to a country estate owned by Bunty’s grandmother. Emmy gets her dream work assignment, as an official war correspondent, and travels to Belgium. Bunty’s sweetheart proposes, a wedding is planned, but Emmy’s husband has to leave England on a secret assignment. Emmy connects with other women who are waiting and waiting for their husbands, sweethearts, or sons to come home. Will the war ever end? And when one of the magazine’s younger staff is overwhelmed by events and leaves without giving a forwarding address, there is plenty to worry about.

This doesn’t sound like a very cheerful read. And yet, this is heartwarming, sad, joyous, and funny in turns. The characters are the stars of this series, from best friends Emmy and Bunty, to their partners, coworkers, and the children in their lives. If you’re up to a few tears, this is an absolutely lovely and charming read for fans of historical fiction set in England. The first book is Dear Mrs. Bird, and the others are Yours Cheerfully and Mrs. Porter Calling.

I look forward to seeing what the author writes next.

Brenda

The Secret War of Julia Child

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The Secret War of Julia Child by Diana Chambers

Diana Chambers takes the known facts of the life and work of Julia McWilliams (later Julia Child) from 1943 to 1945 and adds plenty of adventure, undercover work, and near-death experiences to create an exciting World War II novel set in Asia. Julia did work for the OSS, Office of Strategic Services, during the war in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and China, but didn’t talk much about her work. She certainly handled highly classified documents. Julia did meet and fall in love with mapmaker Paul Child, and they both enjoyed their introduction to Chinese food. The author traveled Julia’s route from India to Sri Lanka, then over the Himalayans to Kunming in western China, and her research brings the settings to life, along with the other historical characters. Readalikes include My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme and A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute.

Brenda

The Comfort of Ghosts

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The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear

The final, nostalgic, Maisie Dobbs mystery is set in England after World War II. The first book was set over 30 years earlier when Maisie was a young teen, beginning work as a maid, then going on to be a nurse in World War I. Now Maisie is married to an American, has a daughter and an Alsatian dog, and works as a psychologist and investigator. Her current case has ties to her youth, and is connected to four teens she finds squatting in a vacant mansion along with a very ill soldier who’s just returned to England from east Asia.

Priscilla, while facing some challenges, is still Maisie’s best friend, and Maisie’s father, stepmother, and former mother-in-law all live nearby. Many connected strands of plot and Maisie’s past need to be untangled, and both Maisie and her long-time coworker Billy have need of advice. I found this to be a very satisfying read. A friend commented that there are too many coincidences in this mystery, and I agree. It feels like the author wanted to connect as many of her characters as she could within the covers of this final book. The first book is titled Maisie Dobbs.

Brenda

The Air Raid Book Club

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The Air Raid Book Club by Annie Lyons

This is a heartwarming historical novel, set during World War II, on the Home Front in England. My sister suggested the book to me, and her book club is planning to discuss it later this year. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Jilly Bond. I took three weeks to savor the audiobook, and found myself thinking about the characters and the story at other times. It is very British, and often funny, even though it’s set during the war.

Gertie Bingham misses her late husband Harry so much that she is thinking of retiring and moving to a beach side town with her dog, Hemingway. She wants to sell Bingham Books, on the outskirts of London, to another bookseller, but her realtor hasn’t found the right buyer. Gertie’s assistant Betty is continuing to run their longtime book club, but Gertie’s stopped participating. Gertie’s Uncle Thomas, who owns a bookstore in London, is dismayed at her plans, as is her longtime friend Charles. Instead, Charles wants Gertie to consider fostering one of the Jewish children he is helping rescue from Germany. Reluctantly, she agrees, but only if the child is a girl who can already read. Enter Hedy Fisher, a serious young teen. First there’s the language barrier, and Hedy’s homesickness for her parents and brother Arno. Hemingway the dog and Betty become Hedy’s friends. Gertie and Elsa, Hedy’s mother, correspond, and gradually Hedy and Gertie learn to understand each other. When war is declared between Germany and Great Britain, all Hedy’s family can send are 25-word telegrams. Then the air raids begin in England.

The community comes together in the war effort, and they discuss books in the bookstore’s air raid shelter. A few women in the neighborhood are prickly types, but have soft hearts underneath. There are some romances and a few wartime marriages, and the book club extends its reach by mail all over Europe. While there are dark days in plenty here, the war violence is off screen. I won’t share more of the plot as it might take away from the experience of reading this deeply satisfying and engaging story. Gertie and Hedy, along with Hemingway, should win the hearts of many readers.

Brenda

Good Night, Irene

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Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea

This is stunning, emotional read. Inspired by the experiences of his mother Phyllis in World War II, the author did a lot of research with his wife and daughter in the United States and western Europe to tell the fictional story of Irene, Dorothy, and an assortment of Third Girls. Irene and Dorothy joined the American Red Cross in 1943 and traveled to England, France, Belgium, and Germany. Driving a truck called Rapid City, they provided comfort and cheer to the American troops, serving up coffee and donuts, playing records, and handing out gum candy and cigarettes. Sometimes they got too close to the front lines and had as much emotional trauma to deal with as the soldiers and aviators they supported. But there was camaraderie, romance, and occasional rest breaks in places like Cannes on the French Riviera.

While this is very different from Naperville author Urrea’s amazing book The House of Broken Angels, they are both compelling reads and unforgettable stories. Good Night, Irene is heartwarming, hard to put down, very grim in parts, and is vividly written. It was especially interesting to read after The First Lady of World War II, in which Eleanor Roosevelt visited Red Cross sites in the South Pacific. If your book group reads some historical fiction and is looking for their yearly World War II novel, this would be a good selection, along with Mrs. Porter Calling by A.J. Pearce. A fascinating epilogue and the author’s notes are a must read.

The First Lady of World War II

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The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back by Shannon McKenna Schmidt

 In August and September of 2023, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt spent five weeks in New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific, at the request of the President. Eleanor was also appointed a special Red Cross delegate and asked to inspect American Red Cross facilities. Well known for her newspaper columns “My Day,” the first lady was 58 and her four sons were all in the armed forces. Much of her visit was kept secret, with most of her columns published after her return and labeled, somewhere in Australia or somewhere in the South Pacific. I was surprised to learn that she traveled without an aide or companion, or even a single dress. She wore only Red Cross uniforms in seersucker or wool, and packed her manual typewriter, wiring her columns to her editor in New York.

While touring hospitals, Red Cross stations, cities, villages, military bases, and camps, she tried to spend as much time as possible with women doing war work, hospital patients, and enlisted men. The author spent four years researching and writing this book, which was a compelling and educational read for me. Eleanor visited Christmas Island, New Caledonia, Guadalcanal, and Oahu, among other islands. She wasn’t allowed to visit New Guinea and had to ask repeatedly to visit Guadalcanal. While there was some controversy over her trip, her visits with the troops were reportedly much enjoyed, and she tried to send a note to the family of every hospital patient she visited. The trip was very hard on her; she lost quite a bit of weight and was exhausted and depressed for a while upon her return, as the hospital visits took a toll and the sights she saw on the islands, including makeshift cemeteries, made her sad. Her observations for the President led to some improvements in conditions for the troops; her columns about her 25,000 mile journey helped educate Americans about life for Americans in the south Pacific, and she most definitely boosted morale for many. This fairly short, well researched and inspiring read certainly enlightened me about events and conditions in New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific in 1943. You can read Eleanor Roosevelt’s “My Day” columns here.

Brenda

Mrs. Porter Calling

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Mrs. Porter Calling: The Emmy Lake Chronicles, Book Three by AJ Pearce

In London in 1943, Bunty and her friend Emmy are living in a large house belonging to Bunty’s grandmother. Soon they invite Thelma, who works the switchboard with Emmy at the Fire Service, to move in, along with her three lively children, George, Margaret, and Stanley. Thelma’s husband is oversea with the British Navy, while Emmy’s new husband Charles is with the Army in North Africa.

The house has a large yard with a rundown shed where the kids hope to keep a guinea pig, and possibly chickens. Harold, a family friend, helps fix up the shed. Thelma and Emmy hope that Harold and Bunty will become more than friends.

This all sounds like a very cheerful and charming World War II home front novel, and it is, in parts. However, Emmy’s day job, as an advice columnist for Woman’s Friend magazine, where her kind brother-in-law Guy, is the editor, is increasingly stressful. The magazine has a glamorous new owner, the Honourable Cressida Porter, who sweeps into the magazine office with her tiny dog, planning to modernize the magazine and the office to be more fashionable and upbeat. The staff, with one exception, are horrified and try to keep the practical content and advice their faithful readers love.

Then the war again leaves its mark, with a sudden death. A wonderful group of friends and family take care of each other in the aftermath while the magazine staff make a stand. Heartwarming and compelling reading, but sadder than Yours Cheerfully (Book 2), though not as tense as Dear Mrs. Bird (Book 1).

The White Lady

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The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear

This historical novel set in Belgium, France, and England, is not part of the author’s celebrated Maisie Dobbs mystery series. Featuring Elinor White, or Linni DeWitt, this is a story set in three different time periods, all narrated by Elinor. In 1947, Elinor is living in a cottage in Shacklehurst, and has a flat in London. When her neighbors Rose & Jim Mackie and especially their young daughter Susie are threatened by members of a London gang, Elinor draws on her connections from work with the SOE (Special Operations Executive) during World War II, which sent her to Belgium with Steve Warren, now a Detective Chief Inspector. As a girl, Linni and her older sister Cecily, along with their English mother Charlotte, worked with the Resistance in Belgium during World War I, then later escaped to London to live with her grandmother. The Belgium setting during the two world wars made for a very interesting though very dark setting. There are a number of dramatic plot twists and turns, with a few too many coincidences. Elinor is a fascinating character, and this is a compelling read. Readalikes include books by Cara Black and Laurie King, along with The Bookbinder by Pip Williams.