Christmas with the Engine Girls
It is 1941 and the Blitz is raging; conscription for women is very much in the news in spite of The War Office dragging its heels at the outrageous idea. At the Bell Works Factory in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, Lily would love to help make Spitfires, and even, shocking thought, fly them. And what about the chaos caused by children placed in unsuitable accommodation after being evacuated and almost lost sight of? Can young Archie’s mother cut through the endless red tape and bring her son home? And what will happen to poor little Kathleen? Will she be abandoned once again? Where will the conscripted women live? What will they wear to work – the men’s clothing is far too large? Who will teach them? No-one seems to know. Edna is determined to have a good time but has she gone too far this time? And what’s going to happen when her husband returns?
Popular author Daisy Styles doesn’t pull her punches. Her books are always well-researched and we believe in her characters; she captures the trials and tribulations of the times with a sure hand, and the readers are pulled into the action breathless to find out what will happen next. I enjoyed seeing women’s new struggles for a different future from what their mothers had aspired to. We tend to forget that this is a world almost within living memory and it represented new possibilities for many young women. I was fascinated by how different the world was back then; a soldier was lucky if he knew where he was going – Africa, Singapore? Daisy Styles captures this uncertainty and keeps the reader gripped by the uncertain fate of so many young people during those difficult years. I’m sure that her fans will be thrilled to welcome this new book.
