Reviewed by Emma Crowley
December 1943
As the war effort gathers steam in Europe, it's all hands on deck on the home front.
Gloria is over the moon to be reunited with her sweetheart Jack. But her sons Bobby and Gordon are away with the Navy and still know nothing of their mother's divorce and new half-sister.
Rosie's squad of welders must work gruelling hours in the yard as they prepare for the Allied invasion of Normandy. All the while Rosie herself waits anxiously for news of her husband Peter, who is carrying out dangerous work as an undercover operative in France.
Meanwhile welder Dorothy has a feeling that her beau Toby is planning to pop the question when he's next on leave. But it seems that her head is being turned by someone closer to home...
It will take great strength and friendship if the shipyard girls are to weather the storms to come.
Many thanks to Random House UK via NetGalley for my copy of The Shipyard Girls on the Homefront to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
It’s hard to believe this is the tenth in the Shipyard Girls series as it seems like only yesterday we were first introduced to the remarkable crew of women that work in the shipyards in Sunderland. So much has happened since the beginning of the war but I wouldn’t worry if you are new to the series as Nancy Revell provides plenty of background information to all the main characters and the various plots that they are part of. Shipyard Girls on the Home Front was another great read. I love how the author just picks directly up where the last book ended and there is no fast forwarding of time instead those cliff-hangers that each book are always left on, well we get the answers to some of these but for other major storylines they continue on throughout the books. I feel we won’t get the answers to a lot of things until we reach the very end. Which I hope won’t be happening too soon as I really do love this series as I have become deeply invested in all the characters and the ups and downs of their lives during the war.
The war may be raging on but there is still an awful lot going on the women’s lives on the home front. Gloria, the matriarch of the group of women welder’s, has had a storyline running for the majority of the books and now at last what readers have wanted for her ever since devious Miriam had her way has finally come true. Her beloved Jack, father to her young daughter Hope, has at last been allowed to return home to Sunderland. His enforced abandonment of his new family was not of his own making and he abided by the rules but thanks to Pearl and Bel, Jack has returned home. You would think things would be all rosy for Gloria and Jack now that he is back where he belongs but there are still plenty of things sent in their direction that will test their love and commitment to each other. Nancy Revell certainly keeps her characters on their toes, once one obstacle is overcome than something else is placed in their path in order to throw their happiness off kilter. With the arrival home of Bobby, Gloria’s older son, having been injured in the navy, the secrets that Gloria has kept to herself have come to the fore and truly Bobby is not one bit happy.
I really couldn’t blame Bobby for feeling the way he did. He thought his life at home had remained the same whilst he was away and he comes back and finds his family unit has changed in so many ways. He must have been both angry and disappointed with Gloria that she had put off telling him the truth and how was he to cope with seeing Jack as the new man in her life? I could understand why Gloria felt the need to keep things secret but the minute Bobby arrived at her door she should have been honest. As always the girls come together as one unit and do their best to make Bobby see sense. Dorothy in particular takes on this role and I can see where this new storyline is going and it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the next book. The more I read the more I wished Bobby just got over things and was nicer to Gloria and accepted the new situation but maybe that’s because I am so familiar with everything and have a deep compassion and understanding of Gloria that I didn’t fully appreciate Bobby’s viewpoints.
For me the two strongest storylines in this book that have been developing over the course of the last several books was that of Helen and Dr. John Parker and Helen’s new discovery regarding her grandmother. Helen for me is the one character who has done a complete 360 since the first book. I disliked her immensely and so did all of the women but she is a reformed person and in a way she seems to be on the girls side especially when it comes to the dealings of her grandfather Charles Havelock. He really is a bane in everyone’s lives for as long as he lives. His storyline adds so much mystery, secrecy and the struggle for power over everyone and the way things are at the moment I can’t see this aspect resolving itself all that easily. Just one wrong slip and the axe could fall for so many as each women harbours a secret that they do not want the wider world to know. Of course the girls share their troubles and secrets with each other and have become like a sisterhood through doing so and that’s what makes this series so special. That through the good times and bad, the ups and downs really they can always turn to each other.
As for Helen she has certainly been through the ringer and the reader can see happiness is just within her grasp. She has proved her worth and been forgiven for her past misdemeanours of which there were many. But really my heart breaks for her, she is desperately in love with Dr. Parker but his co worker who works as a psychologist, Claire, well she has gotten her claws into him and she is not letting go in a hurry. Claire is now the character I detest, there is not one good thing to be said about her. I can’t quite fathom how a woman can be so cruel to a fellow woman and get such satisfaction from it? The threat she is dangling in front of Helen to stop her admitting to John how she feels. You’d think Helen would say sure I don’t care, do what you will, I want to express how I feel. The old Helen would have done that in a heartbeat but it just goes to show how much she has changed and how she now has more empathy and understanding that actions have consequences. She may not be as firmly planted in the women ship welders group but still they are her friends and the leverage that Claire holds over her is just too explosive if revealed.
I admired Helen in that she had realised that her own happiness should come first and she should resurrect a love that she had entombed for so long. But then just when she had plucked up the courage to do this, bitter and twisted Claire steps in. My admiration grew when Helen thought about things and she knew to pursue anything with John would just lead to heartbreak for so many others. This shows how much she has grown since we were first introduced to her character. I feel there is a lot more in store for Helen and that there will be many testing times coming her way. I am completely riveted by her storyline as it connects to so many others in the books. Nancy Revell has done a brilliant job of interweaving everything. There are so many balls up in the air that all it will take is for one to drop and so many earth shattering things will come to the fore.
I got the feeling that for the majority of this book was like a waiting game. The characters were holding their breaths in more ways than one. Waiting for the planned invasion of France to occur, waiting on news of the Allies making advancements around the world and waiting for someone to let slip something that would upset the apple cart altogether. For head welder Rosie, she has been in limbo ever since her new husband Peter left for France. He is deep in enemy territory carrying out work that Rosie can only guess at. This aspect of the overall storyline was tension filled and packed full of emotion. So raw, heart-breaking and visceral as you read and experience a tumultuous set of emotions. Rosie and in fact all of the women that feature deserve happiness as they make so many sacrifices at a time when the world needs all the help it can get. But what price may they have to pay?
I loved The Shipyard Girls on the Home Front from start to finish. There are so many brilliant themes being explored against the backdrop of war and the more the series progresses the more I think it would make a brilliant tv drama. Perfect to curl up and watch on a Sunday night. The only complaint I have is that I couldn’t start a new book as soon as I finished reading this one as I am beyond eager to see what direction things may go in next. I’ve a bit of a wait ahead as the next instalment Shipyard Girls Under the Mistletoe is not published until the end of September.
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