Keep Calm & Carry On
A Stepney Girl’s Secret by Jean Fullerton is a compelling historical novel that entertained me from the start.
The action is set in London in 1940 at the start of the Blitz. We witness the preparations for fear of attack after the end of the phony war. We see children returning to London after being previously evacuated to the countryside.
The British are a stoic nation. They take what life throws at them, keep calm and carry on.
A family move from a rural vicarage to a London one. They throw their lives into the war effort, providing shelter for refugee mothers and their children as well as opening up the crypt for an air raid shelter.
Everyone is required to play their part. The vicar’s daughter signs up for war work and is rather surprised at the job she is given. With the men away fighting, the women must step up into the vacancies left behind.
Life and death, birth and marriages still continue. True love will find a way despite the actions of some.
There are those who seek to make marriage alliances for the sake of appearance rather than for love. There are those who try to bulldoze others but are met with resistance.
Not everyone is as they seem. Under cover operations are on a need-to-know basis, as mouths must stay silent due to the official secrets act.
All the characters are well drawn and realistic. Our responses to them are guided by the author’s pen.
I always love Jean Fullerton’s novels. A Stepney Girl’s Secret is a marvellous read as we follow the brave Londoners through the early years of war.
I received a free copy via Rachel’s Random Resources. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON
A Stepney Girl’s Secret
A brand new heart-warming and atmospheric saga fiction series from Jean Fullerton, charting the loves, hopes and heartaches of three women who move into a rectory in Stepney, East London during WW2.
East London, 1940. At the outbreak of war, hopeless romantic Prue Carmichael and her sister must leave their rural parish behind when their father is posted to a church in Stepney. To Prue, the blitz-ravaged streets of London seem an unlikely place for love to bloom – until a chance encounter throws rakish engineer Jack Quinn into her path. But as their connection deepens, his troubled past begins to emerge, and Prue realises Jack has secrets to hide . . .
Luckily, in between starting work at a railway yard and helping her mother house Jewish refugees in the parish, Prue manages to keep her mind off love and on the wartime effort. However, Jack isn’t the only man who’s fallen for Prue – and when he is recruited into Churchill’s secret underground army, an unexpected suitor offers a fresh distraction.
As air raid sirens sound and the Battle of Britain rages overhead, Prue Carmichael must face some of the greatest horrors of her young life. Meanwhile, she is waging her own battle – the fight between her heart and her head . . .
Amidst the ruins of war, will Prue and Jack’s love find a way to flourish?
Purchase Links
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BLRB2481/
US – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BLRB2481/
Author Bio
– Born and bred in East London Jean was a District Nurse by trade and ended her thirty-year career in health care as a senior lecture in Health and Nursing Studies in London Southbank University.
She had published twenty sagas all set in East London with both Orion and Atlantic the most recent of which is the highly successful Ration Book series. She has also recently released her autobiography A Child of the East End.
Social Media Links –
Website: http://jeanfullerton.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jean-Fullerton-202631736433230/?ref=bookmarks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JeanFullerton_
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