A New Start for the Wrens
England, 1941. Mortified, after totally misreading a supposed suitor’s intentions, estate heiress Iris Tredwick runs away to sea—well, not exactly. Lured by a poster, she joins the WRNS Visual Signaller training course, hoping to catch an officer to match her social standing. Graduating top of the class with two ‘common’ girls, the three are posted to Orkney where, from a land-based signal station, they keep watch over Scapa Flow, anchorage to some of the British Fleet. She meets minesweeper engineer Rob and falls for his cheekiness, but along comes eligible Dr Irvine, much more the type to win Mummy’s approval. Iris discovers herself, her family history, and her attitudes towards class and true love, the course of which never runs smooth, especially at war and at sea. Mired in love’s angst, having followed the fleet, should she now follow her head or her heart? To complicate things, rumours of a spy surface and the girls become involved in some strange and nasty incidents; is the traitor known to them, to be unmasked before it’s too late?
This story adequately balances the line between romance and thriller, though early on it is fairly obvious who the baddy is, similarly which direction Iris will take with her love dilemma, although in neither instance does the penny drop soon enough, permitting some well-maintained jeopardy. It’s an interesting tale, not only for the insight into the WRNS and Morse code mnemonics, but also for the vivid location descriptions, particularly Orkney and its weather.
