My Review for Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown, read by Millie Bobby Brown

“I couldn’t, I won’t take this second chance from you. … Just go! Be happy!”

It's been a while since I listened to Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown, but I'm finally catching up with my reviews. This was one we chose for one of my Instagram book clubs and, as always, I went into it completely blind. I had no idea what it was about, or that it was based on true events, but I'm oh so glad I listened to it. It was so, so good. 

I adore historical fiction, set in and around World War II. Nellie Morris was so lovely, as our protagonist, but she had to deal with so much, as the bombs rained down around her. My emotions ranged from happy to sad, to happy again and then to devastated as the love with her American airman looks so idyllic and positive, until the world caves in around them both. 

There are hundreds of thousands of stories which could be told about people's experiences during WWII. I'm so pleased that Millie Bobby Brown decided to tell the world about this one, which has been passed down to her from her family.

If you have even an ounce of interest in this time period, give this a read. I hope you love it as much as I did.

About the Book

It’s 1942, and London remains under constant threat of enemy attack as the second world war rages on. In the Bethnal Green neighborhood, Nellie Morris counts every day lucky that she emerges from the underground shelters unharmed, her loving family still surrounding her.

Three years into the war, she’s grateful to hold onto remnants of normalcy—her job as assisting the mayor and nights spent at the local pub with her best friend. But after a chance encounter with Ray, an American airman stationed nearby, Nellie becomes enchanted with the idea of a broader world.

Just when Nellie begins to embrace an exciting new life with Ray, a terrible incident occurs during an air raid one evening, and the consequences are catastrophic. As the truth about that night is revealed, Nellie’s world is torn apart. When it seems all hope is lost, Nellie finds that, against all odds, love and happiness can triumph.

Nineteen Steps is a deeply affecting, mesmerizing page-turner inspired by the author’s family history. An epic story of longing, loss, and secrets, Millie Bobby Brown’s propulsive debut introduces an unforgettable, brave young woman and boldly portrays the strength in the power of love.

About Millie Bobby Brown

Millie Bobby Brown is a British Emmy Award–winning actress. She has been featured in the TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people and is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Nineteen Steps is her first book. 

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My Review for The Ruins in Which We Bleed by Steve N. Lee

'No shouting cracked the silence; no flashlights sliced the darkness'.

Steve's writing is incredible. I didn't particularly want to be in Helena's shoes, as slowly, her family disappears, and she has no alternative other than to face the horrors that the Germans are inflicting, all alone. Yet, I had no choice. Such is the power of the words which Steve writes and the in-depth descriptions he portrays of the sufferings Helena experiences, I was right there with her. Every step of the way. 

Every time I read a book like this, one which is inspired by true events and particularly one set during WWII, I often have to stop reading, and reflect that all this s**t really happened and how courageous and resilient people absolutely had to be. 

So much research has gone into Helena's story and Steve has done an amazing job of telling her story and ensuring that no matter how much time has passed, they have not been forgotten.

Thank you to Steve N. Lee for the opportunity to read and review The Ruins in Which We Bleed.

About the Book

A story of courage and a fight for survival like none you have ever read. Guaranteed!

Inspired by a previously untold true story.

Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, 13-year-old Helena is imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto, a squalid hellhole rife with disease and starvation. Yet, although the Nazis have destroyed her home, her life, and her future, they haven't destroyed the only thing that truly matters — her family. Helena might be just a child, but she's a fighter, and she'll do whatever it takes to help her loved ones.

Making sacrifices no child should ever have to make, seeing horrors no child should ever have to see, Helena bravely battles on as her world crumbles amid random killings, slave labor, and deportations. And through it all, her compassion helps to protect her family. But then the Nazis unleash new horrors.

With the ghetto a raging sea of flames, explosions, and gunfire, Helena runs for her life only to hurtle straight into an unimaginable hell from which there seems no escape. And the Nazis are closing in. Can her love for her family give her the strength to survive?

Inspired by a heartbreaking true story of unbelievable courage, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit, The Ruins in Which We Bleed reveals that, even in the darkest of times, one person can make a difference through the greatest power of all — love.

About Steve

Steve has three passions: anti-heroes, animals, and travel. To date, he's visited 60 countries and has adopted five homeless cats, but he's yet to prowl the streets in the dead of night to beat up bad guys (though he still daydreams about doing so, but who doesn't?).

In pursuit of adventure, he's cage-dived with great white sharks, sparred with a monk at a Shaolin temple, and explored exotic locales such as Machu Picchu, Pompeii, and the Great Wall of China.

Fortunately, his passions fuel his fiction. He loves to pepper his action-packed thrillers with the exotic places he's explored and the unusual encounters he's experienced, while his dog stories glow with the love and companionship that will warm the heart of any animal lover.

More recently, while on his travels, Steve came across two true stories from the Holocaust which moved him so deeply, he has based two novels on them.

He lives in the North of England with his partner, Ania, the great-great-great niece of the 1924 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and two stray black cats who visited their garden one day and liked it so much, they moved into the house. Luckily, they graciously allowed Steve and Ania to carry on living there, even allowing Steve to continue paying the mortgage to give him a sense of purpose.

If you love stories of four-legged heroes, tales from histories darkest hour, or books with pulse-pounding action, you'll love Steve's three series. He wrote them for book lovers just like you!

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My Review for A Song Of Silence by Steve N. Lee

'For those they took, whose names we'll never know because no one was left to remember them'.

Once again, Steve N. Lee has bowled me over with this WWII historical fiction novel. It is set in Poland at the beginning of the war, in an orphanage run by Mirek, a published author, and Baba Hanka, a grandmotherly figure who I adored. He was a miracle worker in the kitchen. She made edible meals out of plants and herbs that had been foraged in the forest.

Mirek was an incredible strength to the kids he was looking after, and even when things were looking bad, he pulled on his positive mask and attempted to turn things into a game, so the kids wouldn't be scared.

This is a book, based on true events, about WWII so of course it's heartbreaking, hearing about yet more unspeakable events which took place and how horrific people were treated. But everyone should be aware of just how bad things were for hundreds of thousands of people and how heartless the people who carried out these monstrous acts.

'It isn't only the love we've lost that makes it hurt so much, it's the love we'll never get to give'.

Thank you to Steve N. Lee for the opportunity to read and review A Song of Silence.

About the Book

War thrust them together. Love will tear them apart.

Inspired by a true story...

When the Nazis invade a sleepy Polish town in 1939, Mirek Kozlowski swears to keep everyone in his orphanage safe at all costs. However, despite his struggles and sacrifices, the war drags him and his children deeper and deeper into its violent nightmare.

With 89 children looking to him for hope, Mirek must do whatever it takes to protect them — no matter how criminal, distasteful, or perilous it may be.

And just when he thinks things can’t get any worse, the arrival of a sadistic SS captain brings unspeakable atrocities to his town — and surprisingly, a glimmer of hope for Mirek to save all those he cares about if only he has the courage to grasp it…

A story of love, bravery, and compassion, A Song of Silence explores history’s darkest hour and how, even in the face of overwhelming evil, one man can become a dazzling beacon of light.

Discover what it means to be human. Discover A Song of Silence.

About Steve

Steve has three passions: anti-heroes, animals, and travel. To date, he's visited 60 countries and has adopted five homeless cats, but he's yet to prowl the streets in the dead of night to beat up bad guys (though he still daydreams about doing so, but who doesn't?).

In pursuit of adventure, he's cage-dived with great white sharks, sparred with a monk at a Shaolin temple, and explored exotic locales such as Machu Picchu, Pompeii, and the Great Wall of China.

Fortunately, his passions fuel his fiction. He loves to pepper his action-packed thrillers with the exotic places he's explored and the unusual encounters he's experienced, while his dog stories glow with the love and companionship that will warm the heart of any animal lover.

More recently, while on his travels, Steve came across two true stories from the Holocaust which moved him so deeply, he has based two novels on them.

He lives in the North of England with his partner, Ania, the great-great-great niece of the 1924 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and two stray black cats who visited their garden one day and liked it so much, they moved into the house. Luckily, they graciously allowed Steve and Ania to carry on living there, even allowing Steve to continue paying the mortgage to give him a sense of purpose.

If you love stories of four-legged heroes, tales from histories darkest hour, or books with pulse-pounding action, you'll love Steve's three series. He wrote them for book lovers just like you!

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My Review for Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, read by Helena Bonham Carter

 Eye-opening, heartbreaking and insightful.

Thanks to #classiclitbookclub I am revisiting many of the books I read as a child or in my teenage years and The Diary of a Young Girl is one of them. I'm unsure whether I read it at school or on my own but I was fascinated and heartbroken, then and now. Fascinated that such a young girl - Anne was just thirteen when he family went into hiding in the 'annexe' - wrote her diaries in such an adult and eloquent way, and despite the hardships surrounding her, she wrote with wit and humour, often making the best of an absolutely horrendous situation. She had a sarcasm about her that made me giggle as I was listening to the amazing narration of Helena Bonham Carter, who brought Anne's personality to life as she retold Anne's writings. 

Of course we all know the ending, which was devastatingly heartbreaking, as Anne was eventually captured and sent to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where, at just fifteen years of age, she met her death. Knowing the outcome, made the diaries, all the more difficult to listen to, because Anne had so many dreams about what she wanted to do when the war ended, and for me, personally, knowing that wasn't going to happen was excruciatingly difficult.

The version I listened to had the original censored parts reinstated which I understand happened after Otto Frank passed away. In the original publication her father omitted the sexuality references as well as the parts where Anne was particularly rude about some of those she was in hiding with.

If you haven't read Anne Frank's diary and you have the slightest interest in WWII, then I would urge you to pick this up. It's eye-opening, heartbreaking and insightful and should be on the school curriculum for everyone.

About the Book

In Amsterdam, in the summer of 1942, the Nazis forced teenager Anne Frank and her family into hiding. For over two years, they, another family and a German dentist lived in a 'secret annexe', fearing discovery. All that time, Anne kept a diary.

An intimate record of tension and struggle, adolescence and confinement, anger and heartbreak, Anne Frank's diary is one of those unique documents, famed throughout the world.It portrays innocence and humanity, suffering and survival in the starkest and most moving terms.

About Anne

Anne Frank was born in the German city of Frankfurt am Main in 1929. Anne’s sister Margot was three years her senior. Unemployment was high and poverty was severe in Germany, and it was the period in which Adolf Hitler and his party were gaining more and more supporters. Hitler hated the Jews and blamed them for the problems in the country. He took advantage of the rampant antisemitic sentiments in Germany. The hatred of Jews and the poor economic situation made Anne's parents, Otto and Edith Frank, decide to move to Amsterdam. There, Otto founded a company that traded in pectin, a gelling agent for making jam.

Before long, Anne felt right at home in the Netherlands. She learned the language, made new friends and went to a Dutch school near her home. Her father worked hard to get his business off the ground, but it was not easy. Otto also tried to set up a company in England, but the plan fell through. Things looked up when he started selling herbs and spices in addition to the pectin.

On 1 September 1939, when Anne was 10 years old, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and so the Second World War began. Not long after, on 10 May 1940, the Nazis also invaded the Netherlands. Five days later, the Dutch army surrendered. Slowly but surely, the Nazis introduced more and more laws and regulations that made the lives of Jews more difficult. For instance, Jews could no longer visit parks, cinemas, or non-Jewish shops. The rules meant that more and more places became off-limits to Anne. Her father lost his company, since Jews were no longer allowed to run their own businesses. All Jewish children, including Anne, had to go to separate Jewish schools.

The rest of Anne's story is told in her book, 'The Diary of a Young Girl'.

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My Review for New Hope For The Clarks Factory Girls by May Ellis

Friendships and family, new life and new beginnings.

I love being back in Street, in Somerset, as Kate, Louisa, and Jeannie are hoping against hope that Britain will win the dreadful war and their loved ones can come home. Once again the book is full of friendships and family, new life and new beginnings, but it also isn't without its heartache as the atrocities of war are still in action. Prisoner of war camps are real, and the Germans are using that dreadful mustard gas!

Despite everything, this book is full of hope and positivity, and I admire how strong people were (and had to be) during these difficult times. 

I'm pretty sure that this is the last book in the series, and I'm gutted, I'd love to see how the Clarks Factory Girls live their lives as WWI ends and there is fresh hope on the horizon again. Perhaps May will write about them as they have to devastatingly navigate WWII. 

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review New Hope For The Clarks Factory Girls by May Ellis.

About the Book

1917: As the war reaches its final moments, the families of the Somerset village of Street take comfort in new arrivals among them, but can they allow themselves to hope, or are more dark times around the corner? 

Following her recent marriage to Lucas, Louisa is delighted to discover she is expecting. But after everything she’s lost since the war began, dare she believe that this is a sign of brighter days ahead? 

Meanwhile, Louisa’s friends Kate and Jeannie struggle to balance factory work alongside their responsibilities at home, with shortages, illness and bad news from the front putting them under ever more pressure. Then unexpected news means that Jeannie can finally get her heart's desire but can she accept her happiness at someone else's expense? And when Kate’s tyrannical father dies, Kate pledges never to let another man have power over her, and to forge a career for herself, whatever it takes. But when the armistice brings a surprise reunion, will she risk her independence for a chance at love? 

One thing is certain, things are changing in the quiet village of Street. Can the Clarks factory girls navigate a changing world and stick together?

About May

May Ellis has been a legal executive, registered childminder, professional fund – raiser and a teacher. She has travelled the world, including trekking in mountains, deserts and the Great Wall of China, as well as helping build a house in Thailand. She went to university in her forties and gained a first class degree and an MA while still working full – time. Her first book, a contemporary romance, was published in 2014. Since then she has had five more novels published, including another romance and a YA time travel adventure. The last three are gritty dramas set in the 1960s/70s published by Darkstroke Books. She lives in Somerset, within sight of Glastonbury Tor, volunteering at her local library and for the Alfred Gillett Trust (custodians of the Clark’s archives). Her current series, based on the factory workers at Clark’s Shoes was inspired by her move to the area and her love of social history.

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My Review for A New Home at the Wartime Hotel by Maisie Thomas

Times are changing, as Manchester's ladies try to survive during WWII.

I love an educational WWII novel, and I've read many over the years. The ones where you learn more about the atrocities of the prison camps and the tenacity of the people who were held there. But I equally love a more lighthearted story, which is exactly what A New Home at the Wartime Hotel by Maisie Thomas is. It's the first in a new series, and although there is one heartbreaking topic (check the trigger warnings), this was a winner for me.

This time we are in Manchester as WWII continues, men are off fighting and the women are left to hold the fort - or the hotel! The characters are resilient and resourceful, and Kitty in particular was amazing as she fought to keep her home, and reconfigure the business to provide for her teenage daughter. Lily, Beatrice and Kitty (and Abbie) all became firm friends by the end of the story and I can't wait to hear what's in store for them next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the opportunity to read and review A New Home at the Wartime Hotel by Maisie Thomas.

About the Book

Kitty learned early on in her marriage that her husband, Bill Dunbar, isn’t reliable with money. So when they inherit the Dunbar family hotel at the start of the war, she's hopeful that their financial worries are over… until the bailiffs turn up! With Bill away fighting, it’s up to Kitty to turn things around for her family, or risk ruin.

Lily worked as a chambermaid at Dunbar’s before the war. She met Daniel there, but their relationship was complicated by class differences and the disapproval of Daniel’s mother. Now Lily is pregnant – and with Daniel away at sea, she is all alone. When tragedy strikes, will Kitty and Dunbar’s come to her rescue?

Beatrice is in her forties, unmarried, and working in a job that exposes her to the harsh realities of poverty and sacrifice. She wonders whether the war might give her the opportunity to change lives for the better - including her own. But when she's accused of a crime she didn't commit, the future looks bleak... until Kitty makes a surprising suggestion.

Can the community around Dunbar’s hotel pull together and provide a beacon of hope and resilience, in the dark days of war?

About Maisie

Maisie Thomas is the author of the new Wartime Hotel series published by Boldwood. The first two titles will be published in 2025. The stories concentrate on the importance of female friendship, especially when those friendships come about unexpectedly, and the ways in which women support one another through the highs and lows of everyday life in wartime.

Maisie is also the author of the bestselling Railway Girls saga series about the brave women and girls who worked on Britain's railways in WW2. She also writes as Susanna Bavin and Polly Heron. As Polly, she writes the 1920s saga series, The Surplus Girls, about young women striving for independence in the aftermath of the First World War. As Susanna she has written four stand-alone sagas (The Deserter's Daughter, A Respectable Woman, The Sewing Room Girl and The Poor Relation) and a WW2 saga series, The Home Front Girls.

Maisie was born and brought up in Manchester, which provides the location for her novels. She now lives on the beautiful North Wales coast with her husband and their two rescue cats.

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My Review for The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

'In love, we find out who we want to be. In war, we find out who we are'.

Historical fiction, particularly that set during World War II and inspired by true events, is my first love as a genre. The Nightingale is incredible. I cannot even begin to explain how this book made me feel. I was in awe of the two female protagonists, who both became a part of the Resistance in order to help others. Isabelle - the Nightingale - took many treacherous journeys across the Pyrenees, to help downed Allied airmen return home and Vianne helped to hide Jewish children who were forcibly abandoned by their mothers.

The Nightingale is a book about determination, perseverance and love. It is heart-wrenching, but positive, harrowing, yet encouraging. It will fill you with every emotion you have, a million times over, Every single time I read a book like this, I always turn the last page with a gut-wrenching thought that all of these things happened. 

Thank you so much to #BookstaBritsBookClub for choosing this as March's read. It's been sitting on my shelf for years and I finally had the opportunity to read it.

About the Book

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says good-bye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gaëtan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can…completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.

About Kristin

Kristin Hannah is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels including the international blockbuster, The Nightingale, which was named Goodreads Best Historical fiction novel for 2015 and won the coveted People’s Choice award for best fiction in the same year. Additionally, it was a selection of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club in 2023. It was named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, iTunes, Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, Paste, and The Week. In 2018, The Great Alone became an instant New York Times #1 bestseller and was named the Best Historical Novel of the Year by Goodreads. 

The Four Winds was published in February of 2021 and immediately hit #1 on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Indie bookstores’ bestseller lists. Additionally, it was selected as a book club pick by the both Today Show and the Book Of the Month club, which named it the best book of 2021. 

The Nightingale is currently in production at Tri Star, with Dakota and Elle Fanning set to star. Tri Star has also optioned The Great Alone and it is in development. Firefly Lane, her beloved novel about two best friends, was the #1 Netflix series around the world, in the week it came out. The popular tv show stars Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke and Season Two is currently set to conclude the series on April 27, 2023. 

A former attorney, Kristin lives in the Pacific Northwest.

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My Review for Dark Times for the Clarks Factory Girls by May Ellis

Book three in The Clarks Factory Girls series from May Ellis and once again we are thrown into war-torn Somerset, and the lives of the men and women of Street, many of whom work in the Clarks shoe factory. Throughout the series, battles are being fought, on the frontline, but also in homes, where parents and children don't always see eye to eye!

I love to read about the resilience of people, towns and villages, as they dealt with the horrors which war threw at them. Despite the hardships, they battle on and usually come out smiling. May Ellis draws me into her books and makes me feel like a part of the family, and I can just imagine sitting down with them and having a cuppa and a natter in front of the fire. 

The world has come a long way since the early 1900s, when women weren't allowed to work once they got married and were expected to keep house and look after the children. Sometimes it's difficult to imagine how that was even a thing!

I love my days with the girls, and I can't wait to see what May has in store for them next.

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review Dark Times for the Clarks Factory Girls by May Ellis.

About the Book

1916: As fighting in Europe continues, the Clarks Factory Girls find themselves caught in a divided community...

With the country in the grips of conscription, the pacifism at the heart of Street village comes under scrutiny, and when Kate befriends Gerald, a young Quaker arrested for refusing to fight, she starts to understand the true dilemma the community finds itself in.

Still grieving the loss of her sweetheart Mattie, Louisa finds herself at odds with her parents, who refused them the chance to marry. As her mother’s attempts to find Louisa a husband show no signs of abating, Louisa takes solace in her friendship with Jeannie’s brother Lucas, but could an unexpected opportunity offer a solution to both their problems?

Meanwhile, Jeannie finds herself torn between her heart and her faith. With each other’s help, can the girls hold true to what they believe in, even as the village enters its darkest days yet?

About May

May Ellis has been a legal executive, registered childminder, professional fund – raiser and a teacher. She has travelled the world, including trekking in mountains, deserts and the Great Wall of China, as well as helping build a house in Thailand. She went to university in her forties and gained a first class degree and an MA while still working full – time. Her first book, a contemporary romance, was published in 2014. Since then she has had five more novels published, including another romance and a YA time travel adventure. The last three are gritty dramas set in the 1960s/70s published by Darkstroke Books. She lives in Somerset, within sight of Glastonbury Tor, volunteering at her local library and for the Alfred Gillett Trust (custodians of the Clark’s archives). Her current series, based on the factory workers at Clark’s Shoes was inspired by her move to the area and her love of social history.

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My Review for A Better Tomorrow for the East End Library Girls by Patricia McBride

As soon as I see that Patricia has written another book, I'm champing at the bit to read it and, in particular, this series about the East End Library Girls. Cordelia, Mavis and Jane are an inspiration to the community they live in, opening the library doors to young and old alike, as well as helping their fellow EastEnders in the best way they can. 

It was fun to see the American GIs appear in the East End of London, helping out with repairs in the areas that have been affected by the bombing before they were deployed to fight, and of course all the local girls are flirting at every opportunity they get!

Some of the old characters make an appearance too, and I loved how Edith's future looks to be panning out, and it'll be interesting how the absent men are brought back into future books as they return from war.

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review A Better Tomorrow for the East End Library Girls by Patricia McBride.

About the Book

With London still in the grip of war, Cordelia, Mavis, and Jane find themselves facing a new challenge. Determined to make a difference, the librarians band together to organise rent strikes, standing up against dirty landlords and unfair practices.

Meanwhile, with the arrival of American GIs in the East End, Cordelia is presented with a temptation too irresistible to bear. Should she follow her head or her heart – stay faithful to her beloved Robert fighting abroad, or enjoy the brief respite from the constant air raids and destruction?

As the women fight for what’s right, the promise of a better tomorrow begins to take shape. But will their efforts be enough to secure a better life for their community?

About Patricia

Patricia McBride is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books as well as numerous articles. She loves undertaking the research for her books, helped by stories told to her by her Cockney mother and grandparents who lived in the East End. Patricia lives in Cambridge with her husband.

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My Review for The Memory Box by Kathryn Hughes

Jenny has just celebrated her 100th birthday and decides that now is the opportunity to revisit her past, and takes her carer, Candice, along for the ride. Written across dual timelines, 2019 and 1940s Wales and Italy, Jenny and Candice open up Jenny’s memory box and delve in to see where history will take them.

The Memory Box is beautifully researched and written, and I adored the characters and the story. I can guarantee that this book will trigger every emotion within you and just goes to show that relationships are often similar, regardless of the era. 

Historical fiction books, set during WWII, are one of my favourite genres, and this book is right up there among the top.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for the opportunity to read and review The Memory Box by Kathryn Hughes.

About the Book

Some love stories can't be forgotten...

Jenny Tanner opens the box she has cherished for decades. Contained within are her most precious mementoes, amongst them a pebble, a carving and a newspaper cutting she can hardly bear to read. But Jenny knows the time is finally here. After the war, in a mountainside village in Italy, she left behind a piece of her heart. However painful, she must return to Cinque Alberi. And lay the past to rest.

After a troubled upbringing, Candice Barnes dreams of a future with the love of her life - but is he the man she believes him to be? When Candice is given the opportunity to travel to Italy with Jenny, she is unaware the trip will open her eyes to the truth she's been too afraid to face. Could a place of goodbyes help her make a brave new beginning?

About Kathryn - by Kathryn

The question I am most often asked is this: have you always wanted to be a writer? Looking back over my life I can see that writing has played a fairly significant role, but I can’t remember having a burning desire to be an author. I have enjoyed writing short stories but would not say I was prolific. I don’t have a back catalogue of work like some writers do. In my twenties, I wrote around 50,000 words of a Mills & Boon novel. I have no idea what happened to that manuscript and sincerely hope it never surfaces. It was probably terrible!

Back in 2007, I had an idea for another book. It would centre around the mystery of an old unposted letter. Who wrote this letter? Who found it? Why was it never posted? And what happened to the person who should have received it but didn’t? I had so many questions and not enough answers. I did have a brilliant title though. It would be called – wait for it – The Letter! All I had to do was expand this idea to 90,000 words. How hard could that be? Hmm … very is the answer to that question. Perhaps that’s why it took six years to see the light of day. In my defence, I was still working fulltime, had two children to look after and writing a book is like filling a swimming pool with a syringe. I could also deliver a masterclass in procrastination.

By 2012 though, I had managed to complete the entire novel and my mum said it was really good, so I banged it out to a few agents and waited for the offers to come flooding in. I didn’t have to wait long. Just a few days later the first rejection letter arrived, and then another … and another, until I had about a dozen of them. It was so difficult not to become disheartened in the face of all that negativity, but I’ve since learnt that agents reject manuscripts for all sorts of reasons and it often has nothing to do with the quality of your work. And anyway, it’s all subjective; F Scott Fitzgerald was once told by an editor: ‘You’d have a decent book if only you’d get rid of that Gatsby character.’

Undeterred, in 2013, I decided to self-publish. I had worked for too long on my novel to just leave it festering in the back of a filing cabinet. With the rise in popularity of e-readers, self-publishing was a realistic and cost effective way forward. Alarmingly, though, there are over 2 million books in the Kindle store alone. How on earth was anybody going to find my book? I didn’t have a publicity machine. I didn’t even have a contraption. I had a Twitter account with four followers, all of whom I was related to. Friends were kind enough to download the book and post positive reviews and a few lovely book bloggers read their free copy and did the same. Fast forward ten months and I’d sold a few hundred copies, and then even this torrent of sales dried up. I made the book free for 5 days on a Kindle countdown deal and during that period nearly 10,000 people downloaded it. As those people read their copy, reviewed it and recommended it to friends, so it began to climb the charts, until, unbelievably, it reached No 1. Being so visible in the charts, The Letter came to the attention of Mari Evans at Headline, who asked one of her editors, Sherise Hobbs, to read it. Fortunately for me, Sherise loved it and Headline agreed to publish it in paperback. It has now been translated into 25 languages and has sold close to 1 million copies. Six years from the initial idea to publication can hardly be described as an overnight success, but I’m truly grateful to everybody at Headline for their support and belief in me as a writer.

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My Review for A Christmas Gift for the East End Library Girls by Patricia McBride

This is the third book in the East End Library Girls series and another brilliant book from Patricia McBride. Once again, we are immersed in the lives of the Eastenders of London, during the traumatic and difficult times of the Second World War, but this Christmas, they have the excitement of a visit from the King and Queen of England to look forward to!

Cordelia, Mavis and Jane are back between the pages of our book and honestly, I adore them. They are the stalwarts of the Silvertown library, which is very much the heart of the community, bringing people together for friendship during these hard times. The story and the characters are just so warm and endearing. Despite the setting, you can’t help but be drawn into their camaraderie and love. 

If you like warm, light-hearted, historical fiction, then pour yourself a cup of tea, put your feet up and enjoy Patricia’s latest book about these brilliant east-end girls. 

Thank you to Boldwood Books, NetGalley and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read and review A Christmas Gift for the East End Library Girls by Patricia McBride.

About the Book

As the war continues, the library girls face their greatest challenge yet...

With the echoes of war reverberating around London, Cordelia, Mavis, and Jane are delighted to be blessed with some good news: the King and his Queen will be making a visit to the East End.

As excitement builds, so does their apprehension. With each passing day, the threat of destruction from air raids increasingly plagues their worried minds.

But with Christmas on the horizon, their morale is at an all-time high, and the girls are determined to display to their esteemed guests all they have done with the library – and with so little.

For Mavis especially, she is more focused on the library than ever – her beloved Joe is still fighting overseas and she is waiting for news on whether she might adopt young Joyce.

But perhaps the royal visit will not be the only Christmas gift she'll be surprised with this year…?

About Patricia 

Patricia McBride is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books as well as numerous articles. She loves undertaking the research for her books, helped by stories told to her by her Cockney mother and grandparents who lived in the East End. Patricia lives in Cambridge with her husband.

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