In February, 1922, at the western-most entrance to Victoria Station in Manchester, a massive plaque was unveiled. Beneath a vast tiled map showing the lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway network, a series of seven bronze panels recorded the names of the men of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway who gave their lives for King and Country in the Great War – a total of 1,460 names.
In March, 1940, a group of women of varying ages and backgrounds, stand in front of the memorial, ready to do their bit in this new World War...
Mabel is determined to make a fresh start as a railway girl where no one will know the terrible thing she did and she can put her guilt behind her... Or is she just running away?
Meanwhile Joan will never be as good as her sister, or so her Gran keeps telling her. A new job as a station clerk could be just the thing she needs to forget her troubles at home.
And Dot is further into her forties than she cares to admit. Her beloved sons are away fighting and her husband – well, the less said about him the better. Ratty old sod. She is anxious to become a railway girl just like her dear mam – anything to feel she is supporting the sons she prays for every night.
The three women start off as strangers, but soon form an unbreakable bond that will get them through the toughest of times...
Many thanks to Arrow via NetGalley for my copy of The Railway Girls to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Railway Girls is the first in a new series by Maisie Thomas and it was a great read from start to finish. I love historical fiction series which focus on a group of women during World War Two and even more so when the focus is on a specific trade or unusual work not expected that women would be capable of. I have read about shipyard girls and canal boat girls but now my attention turns to the dedicated women who worked on the railways. I hadn't given any thought to this aspect of the war prior to reading this book and it soon became a real eye opener. The research undertaken must have been very detailed as Maisie Thomas provided impeccable and interesting facts and details about all the various jobs undertaken by the group of remarkable women that we get to know. I presumed upon reading the blurb that the women would literally just work on the trains but there was so much more involved and I quickly became fascinated by everything I was reading.
The first several chapters were quite slow but as this is the first in a planned series I suppose this was to be expected as there were a whole new cast of characters who had to be introduced but in saying that I thought there was a fairly detailed introduction given to Dot, Joan and Mabel. There are several other girls mentioned as well and I do hope that they are allowed to come to the forefront in subsequent books as I really want to learn more about their stories. One woman in particular Colette, I have my suspicions as to what could be going on there and I am eager to see am I right or wrong? I did become a little confused as to who was who with the more minor characters in the group the women form but I had to remember that this book was centred on three women and that I can't be wanting all the information all at one time. Maisie Thomas clearly has a long term plan for what direction the overall plot will venture in and things will change and alter for the women over the course of the war and I just have to be patient to discover how the stories will develop and perhaps intertwine.
Dot, Joan and Mabel are three women who along with several others, Colette, Cordelia, Alison and Lizzie are a group of women amongst the first to be taken on by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1940. They come from all walks of life, have different backgrounds, are from different social classes and all have varying degrees of family problems going on. Women throwing off their aprons and setting out to work in the world was going totally against tradition as a women's place was viewed as being firmly in the home, keeping the house running and caring for their children. But times are a changing and with so many men away fighting women have stepped up to the mark and are more than willing to engage in hard work and pull together for the war effort and help in any way they can be it big or small. Throughout the story, which was filled with difficulties and trials and tribulations for the three women featured, they displayed such unity, strength, courage and sacrifice. They really were stepping outside of their comfort zones in more ways than one but at the same time they were also doing it for themselves as they each had their own internal little struggles they were trying to overcome.
Mabel comes from new money in that her father didn't come from a wealthy background rather he worked his way to the top and now owns his own factory. From the outset the reader can sense that there has been recent trauma in Mabel's life and really she wants to run away from everything. She wants to forget what has happened and only brief hints are alluded to until closer to the end of the story and even then I think we have barely scratched beneath the surface of what is truly going on with her. Mabel wants to do her bit for the war but not in the town that she lives in. She wants to strike out on her own and in my mind this was another way of evading and escaping from what was deep down tormenting her. She believes she is going for a test for a bank but when she arrives she discovers the building is in fact an office for the railways. Of course she is surprised but she is not one to refuse a challenge and she can't exactly go back to her parents with her tail between her legs given how she had so badly wanted to escape from where she had grown up. Also she feels she is paying a tribute to her grandfather who worked on the railways all his life.
I thought Mabel really was thrown in at the deep end in that she had to do back breaking, physical work out in the open with several other women who were known as length women. But she does form friendships with the other women who I have mentioned up above yet at the same time she did remain quite aloof and reserved. I desperately wanted her to let down her defences and share the load. They do say a problem shared is a problem halved but there was something big holding her back. I was glad that she did sign up to do first aid with the some of the other women and I have to say these scenes in the book were some of the best and so very detailed and informative. They soon become part of the frontline to help those who have been injured after bombs have fallen and there were some harrowing and gut wrenching scenes that unfolded. Mabel has an awful lot more to reveal to the group and to us readers and I am keen to see what exactly is going on. She is a character who has definitely whetted my appetite for more.
Joan was a divisive character for me. On the hand I felt great sympathy for her that she is forced to endure so much along with her sister Letitia from her grandmother. But on the other hand I thought yes your gran brought you up but you are now a young woman making her way in the world and you shouldn't be treated the way you are and why are you standing for it? Joan really needed to stand up for herself and strike out on her own but she was too afraid of the past and the influence that her gran exerts on her. The grandmother was one of the worst characters I have read in a long time. She was so spiteful, mean, emotionally abusive and strict and it all stemmed back to Joan's parents. She was an awful tyrant of a woman eaten up by past events that Joan and Letitia shouldn't be blamed for, despite being cut from the same cloth doesn't mean they can be blamed for misdemeanours not of their own making.
If it had been me I would have told her where to go. The scene with the red shoes was a prime example of this not to mention not being allowed to shorten the hems of their skirts. For Joan getting a job in the typing pool of the clerks office of the railways is meant to be an escape but perhaps there is something more sinister lurking there. Throughout the book she feels guilty that the other women are out doing more physical work and she longs to join them but she has to remember they are all doing their bit and every little bit makes a difference. On the romance side for Joan I felt desperately sorry for her as she can't help who she falls in love with and I was worried if it continued that it would affect and hurt others around her but thankfully things took a more positive turn.
Every saga book needs a matriarch, that one woman who is like the mother figure to all the others, and in this case this person comes in the form of Dot. She is so kind, caring, considerate, generous and loving that you want nothing but the best for her. She balances home life with working as a parcel porter travelling from Manchester to various destinations on a daily basis. She is really stepping out of her comfort zone but the reader is so glad to see her doing this because really and truly her family don't give her enough praise, love and attention that she deserves. She keeps the whole show running and will drop everything to help out her selfish daughters-in-law. Not to mention her husband Ratty Reg who she should really just walk out on. I don't know how Dot listened to his horrible comments and constant put downs.
Working on the railways is a breath of fresh air for Dot and she loves getting to know the young women. She does well to cope with the male railway workers who see women as taking their jobs when really all they were trying to do was help keep the country up and running in the most desperate of times. Dot loves mucking in with anything that she is tasked to do as she feels she is part of something vast, important and magnificent. I loved how in tune she was with the other women's problems and that she was always one step of the others in how to offer problems or offer comfort and solace. She is a fantastic character and I see a little glimmer of what is to come for her and I hope by the very end of this series that that has come true.
The Railway Girls was a great start to the series and a thoroughly enjoyable read. It's opened my eyes to an aspect of the war I hadn’t previously read about and provided the reader with interesting characters and great story lines that I can see running on for many books without losing pace or becoming too boring. Despite the slow start for the first quarter, and at times the scenes did jump on the page from one person to another without any notice as page breaks were needed, I enjoyed my time spent with The Railway Girls and look forward to a return visit in September when the second book in the series Secrets of the Railway Girls is published in September.
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