Reviewed by Emma Crowley
After her husband died fighting for their country, Winnie is heartbroken, reeling, and suddenly solely responsible for the struggling family pub. With nothing else to focus on, she pours her heart and soul into her work, trying desperately to keep afloat.
When news arrives of a ten-year-old girl who lost her mother and siblings in the Blitz, Winnie is unsure if she can help. She knows little Francine is alone and in need of a home, but she doesn’t know how much love she has to offer. But there is nowhere else for Francine to go, and Winnie can’t bear to think of her without a family…
Caring for a little girl as the war rages and resources run low takes all of Winnie’s energy. But little Francine is full of ideas to help keep the pub open, and as her cheeky sense of humour and infectious giggle breathe life back into Winnie’s world, Winnie’s heart opens to the possibility of love. That is, until the Canadian pilot she’s fallen for has to return home, and asks Winnie to go with him – just as Francine’s relatives appear to try and claim her.
Winnie can’t bear the thought of losing the family she and Francine have become, but is it safer for Francine to let her go or hold her close? And can they leave the past behind and find the happy ending they both deserve?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Wartime Mother to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Wartime Mother is the third and concluding part to Lizzie Page’s Wartime Evacuees series and without doubt it is the best in the series. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books but finally discovering what happened to Francine after her mother and siblings were killed when the air raid shelter they were in was destroyed proved to be a great read. Lots of serious themes were explored and anyone thinking oh this is just another run of the mill wartime family saga book than you are definitely wrong and would be missing out on a read that pulls at the heartstrings. The books can be read in any order as each book focuses on a different child and adult but whatever one you start with, you’ll find yourself wanting to go back and read the others. They aren’t the most taxing of reads but instead have the perfect balance between nice, gentle, relaxing moments and more tense and challenging subject matter.
Francine is left alone upon the death of her mother and siblings. Her father who was originally from Holland is away fighting in the war and can’t be located to inform him of the tragedy which has befallen his family. A brief spell in the countryside with her fellow friends and evacuees Lydia and Valerie has come to an end for Francine and now she lives with Valerie’s mother Mrs. Hardiman in the building she once resided in with her own family. Francine has nothing left to tie her to anyone or anywhere and she feels immense guilt that she was not in the shelter when her mother perished. She had been sent out as she had chicken pox and her mother didn’t want her siblings catching it. She desperately wishes that she had been there so that she would have been taken also. Instead the ghosts of her mum and siblings haunt her throughout the book. They appear to her at different times and in various forms of distress. I found this to be quite chilling to be honest but it did only enhance the survivors guilt that permeates Francine’s every waking hour. For someone so young as she was only aged 10 when we meet her she shouldn’t really have to experience this.
Francine is very tough on herself and though it’s not specifically said I felt that she was suffering from some sort of malaise or depression which was only natural given her circumstances. She relies heavily on dice her father once gave her and she keeps them in her pocket and throws them every time she needs guidance or an answer to a question. But the dice don’t always give her the answers she wants. Francine is taken from London to Kettering where she meets social worker Scott who places her with an old man named Mr Cohen. What an unlikely pairing but somehow it works and Francine becomes like a little mini housewife tending to the house whilst going to school. She seemed settled and happy there but then one day she finds Mr Cohen has passed away sitting in his armchair. Tragedy has once again struck her life and the feelings of despair strike once again. Why is it she says that everyone she loves or who loves her has to die? Is she the cause of it? Here is where I felt things got dark for Francine as she won’t let love her into her life for if she does it will leave her again through death. She was so deep in thinking this and I was just so desperately hoping that her fortunes would turn around. She was like a lost little soul wandering along a path just waiting and hoping that someone would find and care for her and never leave her life.
This person that Francine had been longing for and whom she so desperately needed came in the form of Winnie. There were so many similarities between the older woman and the young child as both had suffered heart-breaking tragedy in their lives. Winnie lost her husband Trevor in the first year of the war and has been deep in grief ever since. His death has had a devastating impact on her and she no longer can put her heart and soul into the running of the pub The Castle. Her regulars come every day but footfall in general is low and the brewery has threatened her with closure. Winnie is no longer the carefree person she once was as now she sees everything as a risk and a danger. She is bereft, powerless and has nothing left to give to anyone not least a little girl. But how can she let the resilient little girl be sent away once again to god knows where to an unknown future?
Winnie was insistent that she hadn’t the capacity in her heart nor the where with all to care for someone else but Francine little by little broke down those barriers and it was as if the pair were kindred spirits each seeing in each other what they couldn’t personally see in themselves. I loved how their relationship was subtly developed and it flowed naturally and effortlessly throughout the book. I also thought it was brilliant that the timeline didn’t stay specifically in the war years as there was a danger of a bit too much repetition. Instead, as Winnie and Francine grow and adapt to each other and their new lives, the years move forward and we see the changes occurring within both of them. Francine takes a keen interest in the pub and is determined it won’t be the one the brewery shuts down. She was creative and inventive with her ideas for bringing the punters in. This also allowed for a new strand of the story to develop for Winnie which ebbed and flowed with its ups and downs but I was desperately hoping it would end up a certain away.
Life wasn’t all easy for Francine and again a darker and more sinister element to her story began to emerge. I could see what was happening and it was brilliant that the author included this as I think others would have shied away from this topic given the genre of the book in that it had the family saga strand to it. What happens to Francine only adds to her shame that she hadn’t previously died and I wanted Winnie to wake up and see what was going on and do something about it. As I’ve previously said the book did take place over several years and towards the end, I did think the final chapter two or three chapters were just that little bit rushed. The pre-war years colliding with Francine in the 1950’s well I felt the reader had been waiting for this throughout all three books and when you long for something and it’s what you have been expecting you expect due attention to be given to it. That’s my only minor criticism of the book in that this section needed some more fleshing out.
The Wartime Mother was the fitting conclusion that this series deserved. Francine will capture a piece of readers hearts as will Winnie. A powerful story full of friendship, community, loss, grief, survival and refuge and finding happiness.
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