Reviewed by Emma Crowley
England, 1944: As Lizzie looks around her twin brother’s room, she’s in a state of shock. In the middle of the night Ed vanished, leaving no forwarding address. Lizzie knows that he was tormented daily by what he witnessed at Dunkirk four years before, helping his father steer their tiny boat to rescue thousands of injured soldiers. He was never the same after that.
Then, Ed’s call-up letter arrives. Instead of being assigned to one of the forces, he’s been told to report for work at a coal mine – one of fifty thousand ‘Bevin boys’ chosen to help produce the fuel to power the nation through the war. If he fails to turn up he will be arrested and tried as a deserter. Staring at his abandoned clothes and knowing how alike they are, Lizzie realises there is a way to save him.
Arriving for training, she meets a fellow Bevin boy named Peter and is instantly drawn to his quiet, thoughtful nature, so unlike the other men who share her dormitory. And as the two start to adapt to their new lives underground, they develop a strong bond.
Lizzie knows the risks she is taking to save her brother. If she grows too close to Peter her secret will almost certainly be revealed, and they will both be imprisoned. But with the war raging and her beloved country at risk, how much is Lizzie prepared to sacrifice to save those she loves the most?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Secret Sister to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Liz Trenow’s new book, The Secret Sister, shines a light on the forgotten heroes of World War Two, those being the Bevin Boys (the details of which I will go into later). This was a slow burner for me but once the plot was established and I could tell what road it was going to venture down I did become engrossed in the story. Yes, this is another historical fiction book set during World War Two but it was so refreshing in that it wasn’t focused on the fighting and the various manoeuvres of the different sides. Nor was it set in a concentration camp or detailing the work of the Resistance.
All these topics are very important to still read about but there are sometimes when you would like a break from them and for the focus to shift somewhere else. Thankfully, Liz Trenow did this as she really enforced her valid message as to how a generation of young men were forced to join the armed forces or work in whatever capacity the government decided. In these situations they faced terrible hardships, injury and death. To refuse risked a prison sentence. Reading of these themes provides the reader with plenty of food for thought and you find yourself constantly questioning what you would have done given the situation the characters find themselves in.
The book opens in May 1940, Lizzie lives in Essex village of Eastsea with her parents and twin brother Edward. Her older brother Tom is away fighting across the North Sea but is captured and incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp. Life has continued somewhat normally for the family since the outbreak of war but there is the constant fear that the Germans may invade Britain. Lizzie and Ed are so in sync with each other and have a very special relationship and bond. When news breaks that all hands are needed to help with the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk Lizzie’s Dad who works as manager of the local shipyard and who himself has a boat sets sail to help as many men as he can. Ed and some others accompany him and this is where the catalyst that inspires the rest of the story occurs.
Ed is only 13 and what he witnesses on the rescue attempt will alter him irrevocably. Ed sees a man named Alistair die in his arms and the graphic detail is not spared here. In fact, the descriptions of what occurred at Dunkirk and the bravery of the men who went across the sea to save so many were brilliant and really helped give me an understanding as to how and why Ed acts the way he does for the remainder of the book. Ed returns home but the visions and nightmares remain and Lizzie knows she has lost some part of her twin that will be very hard if near on impossible to recover. The years pass and the twins turn 18 and this is the age when they will get their call up papers and some form of service will be determined. From that point on the chapters are told from either Lizzie or Ed’s perspective and when Ed is detailing things you can feel every ounce of fear, pain, anguish and upset that he is feeling. He can’t help but feel the way he does and you sense that he is experiencing some kind of PTSD from his experiences on the sea.
Lizzie awakes one morning to find that Ed has left. There is no note or explanation but a few of his things are gone. She feels lost and abandoned and that she will be the one forced to deal with the fallout as their call up papers are expected any day. She can’t make sense of what Ed has done but all she knows that she will do anything to protect him. For if he does not return in time to go where he is assigned then he risks prison and she can’t bear that for him. Lizzie herself discovers that she is not fit for service due to a previously undiscovered health condition. She feels ashamed, guilty and embarrassed that she can’t do her bit for her country. I could understand why she felt that way but wondered did she not stop to think that she could do her bit in other ways as so many other women did?
Lizzie is left reeling from Ed’s disappearance but from this point I felt she really came into her own. Too often I use the terms bravery, courage and selfless when writing reviews in this genre but these words and so many more really do describe Lizzie in an nutshell. I really don’t think anyone in this day and age would have done what she goes on to do and in all in the name of sibling loyalty, love and devotion. She was just amazing and so inspirational and the fact that she kept what she was doing secret from her parents was just remarkable as she really did have such a heavy shoulder to burden and she did it all so she could protect the person who meant the most in the world to her.
Ed’s call up papers arrive and Lizzie opens them to discover that he has not been called to the army or the air force rather he has been conscripted to coalmining. Not wanting Ed to have the reputation of being a conchie – a conscientious objector, she decides she will take Ed’s place. As previously mentioned the Bevin Boys, were given the name because of Ernest Bevin, the Minister for Labour and National Service. We learn how he had his secretary pick a number out of a hat every month and if your national service number ended in that number then you were selected for coalmining. I had never ever heard of this before and that’s what makes this book stand out from the rest of the historical fiction books being published at the moment. Just when you think you have read everything along comes a little known aspect of the war that expands your learning even more.
There was a shortage of labour in the mines as so many men were away fighting and coal was needed to make the steel for planes, tanks etc so it was a very worthy and important job and I was disappointed to see in the end notes little recognition was given to these men until very recently. But this book will certainly raise awareness and heighten the profile of those brave and selfless men. Once Lizzie made her mind up what she was going to do as she believed Ed just needed some time to come to his senses and come back and perhaps see coalmining wouldn’t be as bad as other services. Well from that point on I was totally caught up in Lizzie’s story. Having to pretend convincingly to be a man was no mean feat and my heart was in my mouth reading chapters from her perspective as she starts training because I feared at any moment that she would be discovered. She had such guts, grit and determination and I loved her for all those attributes. She was playing a very dangerous game. I enjoyed reading about her experiences in the coalmining centre and I loved how her story was developed as a real human side was presented. Towards the end it really was nail-biting stuff and I had my fingers crossed for a positive outcome.
Ed will be a divisive character for some people and this is where the food for thought for the book comes into play. I could completely understand his viewpoint. The fear and cowardice overwhelmed him, leading him to not being able to think straight. He truly saw no other option only to run away. But in the case of both Lizzie and Ed, it takes great courage to stick to your faith and in different ways they both did. I was glad we were presented with Ed’s viewpoint too as I felt if it had been absent the book would have been very one sided. Instead a very balanced perspective was presented, and the reader is allowed to make up their own mind as to what they view is the right or wrong thing to do. The Secret Sister as a whole was a heartbreaking, emotional and beautiful story and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Fans of historical fiction will love it.
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