Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Emmeline’s daughter, Lydia, has already been evacuated and now, as Emmeline loses neighbours and friends to the bombs raining down around her, she must leave London too – for safety and a fresh start.
Evacuated to Norfolk and lodging with local politician, Lawrence, and his unwelcoming wife, Emmeline’s loneliness drives her into the arms of other struggling single mothers. The women are desperate to aid the war effort, but they need someone to care for their children. Longing to help, Emmeline pleads with Lawrence to let her open a wartime nursery – the first of its kind.
Getting support for the nursery isn’t easy, as many believe mothers should stay home. But after rolling up her sleeves, Emmeline finally opens the doors to the old community hall she’s worked so hard to spruce up, and the children flood in. The toddlers are hungry for attention and Emmeline loves their sweet little faces – even poor, fatherless Billy who always throws porridge at her, tiny Alice who needs to be held constantly, and Freddy, with his cherub curls and wide eyes.
But Lawrence’s political rival is determined to close down the nursery – just as Emmeline’s put down roots in the village and finally found the purpose she’s always dreamed of.
Will Emmeline be able to save her nursery and stay in Norfolk with the friends and the children she loves so dearly? Or will she be forced to return to London and leave her new life – and true calling – behind…?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Wartime Nursery to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Wartime Nursery is the second book in The Wartime Evacuees series by Lizzie Page. It can be read as a standalone but I would suggest not missing out on book one A Child Far From Home which tells Valerie’s story. This time around the story focuses on Lydia and her mother Emmeline. Lydia, Valerie and Francine and their families all live in flats in one building in London. War has broken out and the parents are fearful as to what may happen if the Nazi’s invade and the promised bombing commences. The girls are evacuated to Somerset and so sets in motion an entire new life for them. By the end of the book the reader is left thinking that if the war had not occurred how very different things would have turned out for each of the girls. They would not have had the experiences they did, nor met the people who go on to have a profound influence on them. The same can be easily said for the mothers.
As with the first book, I’ll admit I found the first half quite slow going with not much occurring and there was in my opinion some repetition. But around the midpoint things began to pick up pace and my opinion of characters changed, and I found myself becoming more invested in the unfolding story. The chapters are not overly long in any sense of the word and alternate between Lydia and Emmeline. Lydia finds herself in a really nice set up in Bumble Cottage in the heart of Somerset. She is staying with Mrs Howard who has a son Paul who is away at school and visits only on occasion. Every need of Lydia’s is tended to and she has a wonderful experience in the countryside far from the bombs raining down upon the city. It’s an entire new life for her. She is comfortable and cared for and receives a good education but for some reason I just couldn’t take to her at all.
I found Lydia to be quite spoilt in a way and yes what she was going through was completely different from her mother’s wartime experiences but still the gulf that grew between them I didn’t like. It’s like Lydia now looked as if her family were beneath her and that she felt her life was now made and she was set up forever and would never return to her family. She was a complicated character and really her actions later on in the book did little to endear her to me. I say this because I know what happened in book one and how Lydia’s actions impacted someone else’s life. On the one hand I was happy that she was safe but as the years passed the distance between herself and Emmeline grew ever wider and I felt the mother daughter bond should have been strengthened rather than widened. After all they do say absence makes the heart grow fonder and this could have applied in this situation. Towards the end she does redeem herself when push comes to shove but by this stage and for most of the book I was much more on Emmeline’s side. I found her character development to be stronger and far more interesting. I loved how the book started off being about evacuees during the war but turned its focus on the parents and women and how the role of women changed significantly at the time. That’s what was highlighted and one of the main themes of the book and it was done very well.
Initially, I found Emmeline to be weak and dare I say it a bit whingy. I understood completely that she was desperately missing her daughter and longed to have the family unit back together but at the same time I thought oh gather yourself together a bit. This is a storm that needs to be weathered and how you emerge out the other side is completely up to you. Make the best of a bad situation and deal with it and I am glad to say that is what she does. Although the journey is far from trouble free but the outcome proves to be a positive and life enhancing one for her. Emmeline has remained in London with her young son Matthew who is too young to be evacuated but as the danger grows ever closer, Neville, Emmeline’s husband, insists she evacuate too. He will remain in London as he works for a newspaper. Neville didn’t feature too heavily but when he did he made a significant impact and at times I thought Emmeline was in fear of him. I would have loved for her to stand up for herself more in relation to Neville and to break free from him if she could. Similar to Lydia, Emmeline goes through a major transformation when she is evacuated to Norwich and given a place to stay with an MP, Mr Davenport and his wife. For quite some time the chapters with Emmeline in Norwich were repetitive just detailing how she spent the days trying to stay out of the house with Matthew. I did think this can’t go on like this we need an injection of some action or excitement.
There mightn’t have been anything significantly dramatic or exciting but still as previously mentioned the book did turn a corner, I felt at the half way mark. Emmeline changed and far from being meek she started to display a different side to her personality and that underneath the person longing to be reunited with Lydia was someone who realised that they could turn things around and do something for women. That women in the times of war and hopefully much further ahead into the future could and could do remarkable things outside the home. When Emmeline meets Dot and Christine who also have been evacuated it was like as if she shed her old London skin and took on an entire new persona. I loved that she had the guts to go forth with her plan to set up a nursey for young children which would allow their mothers to go and work in local factories and therefore contribute to the war effort. We take all of that for granted these days and it was interesting and informative to read of their origins.
Emmeline faced stiff opposition and she wasn’t to be worn down. From this point the chapters flew by as did the years and I thought it was good that we saw a real evolving of the characters on a personal and professional level. Some romance does come into play and god was it bittersweet the way it turned out. I was hoping for something different but Lizzie Page didn’t conform to what could have been typical of a book of this nature and it can be hard to stick to your guns like that despite what readers may long for. Running the nursery gave Emmeline a life of stimulation and purpose and also allowed other women to feel the same way. She became much more tenacious, practical and strong and it was as if she was born to do this role all her life.
The Wartime Nursery was a good, light read full of heartache and tragedy. It’s a story of growth and change thanks to the war. Book three, The Wartime Mother, will see the conclusion to the series and Francine’s story will be told which I am really interested to see what happened to her as it appeared as if she had dropped off the face of the earth. In the meantime this is a relaxing and informative read that many readers will happily spend a few hours indulging in.
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