Reviewed by Emma Crowley
When Evie’s dreams come crashing down, she’s determined to still make something of herself in these trying times…
It is 1939 and working class Evie Bishop has received a scholarship to study mathematics at Oxford when tragedy turns her life upside down. Evie must seek a new future for herself and, inspired to contribute to the war effort, joins the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force as an Ops Room plotter.
Posted to a fighter station on the Sussex Coast, Evie befriends two other WAAFs – shy, awkward May and flirty, glamorous Jess. Faced with earning the approval of strict officers and finding their way in a male dominated world, the three girls band together to overcome challenges, navigate new romances and keep their pilots safe in the skies.
But the German bombers seem to know more than they should about the base’s operations, and soon Evie, May and Jess are caught up in a world more dangerous than they ever imagined…
Many thanks to Canelo via NetGalley for my copy of The Ops Room Girls to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Ops Room Girls is the debut novel from Vicki Beeby and it follows three young women who join the WAAF-Women’s Auxiliary Air Force during WW2. It was the second book that I had read in a number of months that featured the work of women in the operations room and prior to this I knew nothing about the incredible work these women did. For nearly half of this book I was interested but there was nothing really gripping me, or nothing in particular that set it apart from other books in this genre, but then all of a sudden there was a turning point and things just clicked with me and the book took on a whole new level of deception and intrigue and a sense of working as a team to solve a problem that if allowed to continue would have serious repercussions. From that moment I really became hooked and found this book to be a great read and by the time I reached the end I definitely knew that I wanted to hear more from these girls.
Evie Bishop lives in Oxford and is hoping to study a maths degree at university. She has worked hard and when she is offered a scholarship she feels her dreams are about to come true. I loved that Evie was a bit different from the norm and wanted to better herself through further education. She was lonely and bullying during her school years meant a lack of friends, she hoped that university would change all this for her and help her break through the class barrier. But luck was not on Evie’s side as her father Stan, who had never fully recovered from a mustard gas attack during the first war, takes ill and passes away. Evie knows she can’t go on to do her degree now that her circumstances have changed. Her mother seemed a bit cold and aloof and when she says it’s time Evie pays her way. She knows her dream is gone or maybe it could just be put on hold for the moment? Evie pushes her own needs aside and volunteers for the WAAF. I thought she was so selfless in doing this as it was an entirely new experience for her.
Her life changing decision pushed her out of her comfort zone and presented many challenges both emotional and physical but her mathematical talents would be put to good use as when she has completed her training she is chosen to go to the RAF base at Amberton in Sussex and is tasked with working in the ops room. Here she is on the front line so to speak. Yes she is not on the battlefields in Europe but her knowledge, talent and skills are pivotal in relaying information to pilots in the air and plotting the course of both enemy and British aircraft. It’s a steep learning curve for her but she wants to use her talents to serve her country and in doing so she hopes she will find a sense of purpose and comradeship. Her work as a plotter means people’s lives depend on her accuracy and she soon comes to learn through the two new friends she makes that sharing a problem and being able to laugh about it with someone else makes all her own personal issues weigh far less heavily.
To a lesser extent than Evie, two other girls did feature and I am hoping that in subsequent books that these two may feature more heavily. Of course they were present and did have an important role to play but here the story did really centre around Evie and her experiences. When Evie arrives at the base she meets Jess Halloway, an actress who is glamorous and exuberant. There is a real sense of daring and fun about her, she takes her work seriously but you get the impression that she enjoys the good times too and always has her eye on a new man to keep herself entertained when not on duty.
May has used this new opportunity to get away from her family as her life is dominated by her father and brothers. She doesn’t want to get mixed up with any men and she comes across as being shy and vulnerable. I wanted to know more about her past experiences and why she was so reluctant to become involved with anyone. It was as if she was down trodden from shouldering the burden at home and this new sense of freedom, opportunities and life experiences afforded to her well I hope she embraced them with open arms. But I could tell that wasn’t going to be easy for her. She develops a fondness for Squadron Leader Peter but seems so reluctant to act on it and given what her mother experienced with her father which is alluded to but never discussed in detail you could understand this but are all men really to be tarnished with the same brush.
Squadron Leader Alex Kincaith featured heavily throughout the story and I was glad to really get a male perspective on events at the airbase on the ground and in the air. He is wrestling with a burden as the last time his squad went in the air it ended in disaster. Guilt and anxiety eat away at him and he wishes to redeem himself. I loved the friendship that you knew could turn into something more between Alex and Evie and I desperately hoped that could give into their feelings and allow it to become something long term. Alex had been grounded ever since but is desperate to get back in the air so when a Czech pilot lands at the base and he is believed to be an enemy this sets in motion a crucial part of the plot and this for me is when things really took off after what was a very slow start.
Jiri Stepanek it turns out has had enough of what he has witnessed on his home soil and is determined to join the British and play his part in bringing about the downfall of Hitler. Alex is put in charge of this new squad with several more pilots from different countries and Evie and Jess are tasked with teaching them English. I loved seeing all the inner working of the base and how this was but one base and one small yet vital cog in the overall wheel of battle. There wasn’t too much detail as to over burden the reader and the plot would become lost amidst technical terms. Yet it was evident that the author had done such impeccable research into the subject matter and it gave me an even deeper appreciation for how so many people put themselves on the line during the war. There was the perfect balance between details re the work of the girls and other issues and plots so that none over took one or the other.
When it becomes clear that the Germans really want to bash Britain into submission, I felt the story took on a whole other level. It felt very real, tense, dangerous, anxiety inducing and thrilling. The plot became edge of your seat stuff and I was rapidly turning the pages. Definitely the later half made up for the slow start as a real element of mystery and sleuthing took effect. Things start happening at the base that really shouldn’t and I could see the little clues and tit bits that were being dropped and I thoroughly enjoyed the girls trying to work things out. They went way beyond the call of duty which just shows how deeply invested they were in what they were doing. A real human element and a sense of everyone working together to solve the conundrum was evident and I lapped up every minute of it. Being a historical fiction book and having the added element of trying to solve the enigma was just brilliant and it really made all three girls step outside of their comfort zones and rash opinions you have formed of them initially were definitely turned on their head into perhaps more positive and admirable ones.
Evie, Jess and May form a close bond and friendship and they bring out the best in each other and stick with one another in times of trouble and strife. Alongside the mystery to be solved before disaster strikes that will leave irreparable damage is the love stories for each girl and I enjoyed this but for me trying to have the good triumph over evil to uncover the secrets hooked me far more. So despite struggling to get into The Ops Rooms Girls initially there was a real turning point for me which made me really really enjoy this book and it left me certainly wanting to read more from this trio. Christmas with the Ops Room Girls was published in the last months of 2020 and it’s one I didn’t get round to reading over the festive season but I hope to rectify that as soon as possible.
An excellent, in-depth review!
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