Where Strangers Become Friends
A Wartime Welcome At Rookery House by Rosie Hendry is the first book in a new historical series which promises to be fabulous.
The novel is set in 1940 and 1941 at the height of the Blitz as we travel from London to Great Plumstead in Norfolk.
Rosie Hendry has perfectly captured the fear and the fragility of life. As the bombs fell, life could be stuffed out in an instance. Even the countryside did not escape the rogue bomber.
Great Plumstead is a small community united by evacuees and a hospital for the wounded soldiers. We witness the residents pulling together as they open homes and lives to strangers who become family.
As the evacuees – mothers and children – arrive, some literally have nothing as their homes were bombed. Generosity abounds.
The war is awful beyond words, but for some, their lives were living nightmares before the war. War has given opportunities and opened up lives.
There were those for whom motherhood has been denied. A whole generation of women lost their menfolk on the battlefields of World War I. As the evacuees arrive, there is the opportunity to give love and care to the young.
At the heart of the community is the hospital – an old family home opened up and re-purposed for the care of the injured. The reader sees the care and dedication of the nursing staff, and the tough love and strong stomachs that are sometimes needed. As attachments inevitably form, there will be heartbreak.
I thoroughly enjoyed A Wartime Welcome At Rookery House and cannot wait for the subsequent books to follow the lives of characters whom I now view as friends.
I received a free copy from Rachel’s Random Resources for a blog tour. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON
A Wartime Welcome at Rookery House
Follow the much-loved characters from the award winning MOTHER’S DAY CLUB in a brand-new World War Two saga series.
October 1940
When VAD nurse Evie narrowly avoids being killed in an air raid during the Blitz, it propels her to make a life-changing decision to break free of her troubled and unhappy life. She escapes to the Norfolk countryside to start afresh, with a job at the newly opened Great Plumstead Hall hospital, and a wonderful new home at Rookery House.
The community of Great Plumstead welcomes more evacuees to the village – mothers and children bombed out of their London homes. Sisters Prue and Thea, along with members of The Mother’s Day Club, help the new arrivals settle in, while continuing their work for the war effort by holding knitting bees, socials and doing WVS work.
Evie is happy in her new life – she loves living at Rookery House and enjoys her job at the hospital, despite working for the difficult Matron Reed. But when a patient arrives who knew her in her former life, Evie’s new-found freedom and happiness is in danger. Will the secrets of Evie’s past be revealed, and the problems from her old life return to trouble her once more?
Purchase Links – https://amazon.co.uk/dp/B09R2KB6NV
Author Bio – Rosie Hendry lives by the sea in North Norfolk with her husband and children. She writes uplifting, heart-warming historical fiction based on true events from our social history. Listening to her father’s tales of life during the Second World War sparked her interest in this period and she loves researching further, seeking out gems of real-life stories which inspire her writing.
Social Media Links – https://www.facebook.com/RosieHendrybooks
https://www.instagram.com/rosiehendryauthor/
Thank you so much for being part of A Wartime Welcome at Rookery House’s blog tour. I’m delighted that you enjoyed the story and spending time with the characters.