Reviewed by Emma Crowley
In the midst of war, can they find a reason to celebrate?
1915. Patrolling is the last thing on the minds of Women's Police Service recruits Annie, Maggie and Poppy right now, because Annie and her fiancé Richard are about to get married. She's been waiting for this day her whole life, but when it finally comes it brings only heartache and Annie doesn't know if she can go on.
The influx of soldiers to the capital means that the WPS's work is more important than ever, though, and Annie's country needs her. She and the girls are posted to the bustling heart of the city and she hopes the new job will distract her from her sorrow.
It certainly does that. Soon the biggest bombing raid of the war causes chaos on their patch. On top of that, Annie suspects that a group of men are forcing European refugees into prostitution and resolves to stop them by Christmas. But by the time she realises just how high up the scandal goes, she might be in too deep to get out . . .
Many thanks to Hodder and Stoughton via NetGalley for my copy of Christmas with the Bobby Girls to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Christmas with the Bobby Girls in the third instalment in the Bobby Girls series by Johanna Bell and three books in it’s certainly not lost any of it’s appeal for me. The stories continue to deal with gritty, realistic and hard hitting issues as in the midst of war volunteer women carry out the work of the WPS - Women’s Police Service. The title of this book may suggest it’s all about Christmas ,and therefore one would presume that’s when you should read this book, but honestly it can be read at any point in the year. Christmas features ever so briefly towards the end and really you will be far more interested in the development of Annie’s story and how she copes with major grief in her life and the loss of looking forward to hope and happiness in her life.
Johanna Bell has once again surprised me with the range of topics that she deals with that were so prevalent at the time. She is never afraid to shy away from gritty detail or focus on subject matter that books in the war time saga genre don’t centre on or else gloss over. I’ve read countless books set during World War Two so to see a concentrated focus on the first war and how women came to the forefront at that time is brilliant. The beginning of this new book gets you up to speed with what has happened previously and it serves as a great introduction for new readers and a refresher for those that have followed the trials and tribulations of the girls since the beginning. I had only gotten round to the second book quite recently so everything was fairly fresh in my mind and I was keen to delve in and see what the author had in store for her characters. One thing is for sure, they never have an easy time of it and through such brilliant writing and exciting, detailed and gripping plots the girls experience an awful lot and open the readers eyes to what was going on the home front during the war.
This time around Annie is central to the story and I have become used to the fact that although the other girls are present and supportive as the bond of the Bobby Girls is strong, they take more of a back seat. We have already read about Maggie and Irene, who is away working in Grantham, and I am sure relative newcomer Poppy will get her chance to share her story in the future. Even though from what I can already tell about her is that she is a no nonsense woman but there is definitely something she isn’t quite ready to share yet. When we meet Annie again she is delirious with happiness as her wedding to Richard is about to take place. He is to return home from war so they can celebrate their big day and she feels all the pieces are slowly falling into place. Her work with the WPS has helped her come out of her shell and she believes despite the traumas of war happiness is coming her way. But a cruel and earth shattering few opening chapters leaves Annie bereft, adrift and all alone. Her world is shattered into minute pieces.
My heart broke for Annie as she was happy and all excited and with a few simple words her world was ripped apart and would be very difficult to piece back together again. Johanna Bell does a fantastic job of conveying the sense of grief, loss and desperation experienced by Annie. She goes into a very dark place where no one can reach her despite their best efforts. It’s a huge set back for her and she reverts back to her shy, timid and weak self and will not leave the house. All the strength and growth she had experienced since joining the WPS is gone. But there comes a time when one must emerge out of the darkness and into the world again and when the trio are given the opportunity to relocate to a new patch for patrols they take it with open arms.
They have done good work where they were initially stationed and hope they can continue to do so in their new territory. I felt Annie had no choice but to get back out there and continue her work because that’s what Richard would have wanted. She needed a goal and a reason to keep going and a long running theme running through these books gives her that impetus to get out there. That being prostitution and women from normal homes trying to earn some money to support their families with their men away fighting. The influx of soldiers on the streets home on leave or in training did nothing to help the situation. The WPS has always tried to help women in this situation and they do stalwart work of warning women of the risks, moving them on and trying to solve challenging situations.
Annie seems to take on a personal mission in this book and I thought it was her coping mechanism to deal with the loss of Richard. She wanted to make him proud and to try and live a life without him but I felt she really put herself in the most dangerous and precarious of situations. It was like she threw all caution to the wind. Any training the girls had received went unheeded and it was like she was on a one woman mission to sort out the men running a prostitution ring. I really feared for her as her actions seemed so reckless to be going about things solo. It was as if all advice and protocols went out the window and no matter what she was determined to solve the case so to speak all on her own. Yes she can be seen as being brave, determined and a woman ahead of her time, but at the same time I feared for her outcome because I don’t think she realised the extent of what she was dealing with and that she needed support and back up.
At one point when she really takes going undercover to a whole new level, I was almost shouting no don’t do that. You are absolutely crazy. But I suppose this added a whole new slant to women doing their bit during the war especially towards women’s rights and yes the issue needed to be explored and developed. But I guess I was so concerned for Annie that at times I lost sight of why she was doing what she did. That’s not any fault of the author or the writing, it’s just me being too over protective of a fictional character but it does show how caught up I was in everything. I felt like Annie was a friend treading dangerous water getting into deep trouble and I didn’t want that to happen to her. It may sound like this is a bit doom and gloom and just a bit too much. It’s not at all in fact it’s more than reflective of the time.
Annie’s grief gave her the foundation to put herself out there at the forefront of danger and it made for a gripping read and I can safely say that the Bobby Girls series is one of the best I have read in a long time. It’s not all light and fluffy like some books in this genre can be. Yes we get the heart-warming friendship element but also a more serious, alarming, threatening and formidable presence is felt and that makes for a real page turner that keeps you reading as fast as you can until the very last page. The Bobby Girls War is the next in the series but it’s not published until October but I can guarantee I for one will be keen to get my hands on it as soon as I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment