Blog tour: A Girl's Guide To Winning The War

By

Welcome to the blog tour for A Girl's Guide To Winning The War by Annie Lyons!

More about the book…

1940. Whip-smart librarian Peggy Sparks is determined to make sure that her brother Joe returns from the frontline to their London home, which they share with their beloved mother and grandmother. So when she is offered a once-in-a-lifetime job at the heart of the war effort, Peggy jumps at the prospect of making a real contribution to her country.

But when she finds herself working under the fanciful socialite Lady Marigold Cecily, Peggy discovers that those around her are more keen on dancing at the Café de Paris than on ending the war. Writing accounts of her daily life is the only thing keeping Peggy's hopes alive. But when she finds her inner-most thoughts accidentally published by the Ministry of Information, Peggy realises she needs Marigold's help to save her job, and to bring her brother home…

More about the author…

After a career in bookselling and publishing, Annie Lyons became an author.

When not working on her novels, she teaches creative writing.

She lives in south-east London with her husband and two children and black labrador, Nelson.

My impressions…

There aren’t many boxes that this novel didn’t tick for me. In fact, I can think of none. Set in London during World War II – a setting and an area that I love to explore when I read historical fiction – this book is brimming with strong women – whether main or minor characters makes little difference.

If we’re talking about main characters, Peggy and Lady Marigold are a dream. Peggy is an easy character to love. A kind, family-oriented bookworm, empathising with her comes naturally. Lady Marigold couldn’t seem more different – entitled and oblivious to the hardships that less fortunate families had to face. The friendship between the two women, however, works, and together they make a winning team.

Let’s not forget books and the written word, which play such an important role here. I never really thought about the world of publishing during the war, and this is what I love about historical fiction… that it allows me to explore answers to questions I didn’t even know I had.

A great story, incredible characters, the opportunity to learn something new… whatever you look for in a book, you’re likely to find it here.

Three words to describe it. Heart-warming. Inspiring. Moving.

Do I like the cover? It was love at first sight!

Have I read any other books by the same author? I haven’t had that pleasure yet.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Booknet: a new platform for authors and readers

By
Image
‘Ooooh, what is Booknet ?’ I hear you ask… Booknet is a popular literary social media network, self-publishing platform, and Bookscription eBook sales model, all of which is being introduced to the UK following rapid growth in Latin America and Eastern Europe since 2015. How does it work? Booknet is both a successful literary self-publishing platform and a social network, founded by Ukrainian entrepreneurs in 2015. Booknet has gained significant traction in countries such as Ukraine, Russia (the Russian division was sold in the spring of 2022 because of the war between Ukraine and Russia), as well as Latin America. The company is now actively investing resources into the development of its English-language version. Authors can either publish their books with free access by readers, or sell them after obtaining commercial status through the platform. Booknet provides free advertising for eBooks sold by their authors on the platform. Booknet’s distinctive features (apart from being a pop...
Read more

Book review: She’s Never Coming Back

By
Image
By Hans Koppel Translated by Kari Dickson Published by Sphere It is safe to say that my choice of reading material is not usually truculent. That’s why I surprised myself when I decided to read a novel whose front cover prominently displays a quote describing it as a ‘terrifying crime novel’. I started to read expecting the worse and - it being impossible to put the book down - a few hours later I was trying to understand what had hit me. Let’s be clear: I loved this book and I’m grateful to Sphere for publishing this Swedish novel by author Karl Petter Lidbeck who, being a children’s literature author, decided to have it published under the pen name of Hans Koppel. I can see why he doesn’t want to have the two genres mixing on the bookshelves! The plot is simple enough: one day after work, Ylva does not return home. When she hasn’t returned 24 hours later, her husband Mike starts to worry and calls the police. Ylva seems to have disappeared without a trace and, month after month, Mike...
Read more

“Italy in books” - reading challenge 2011

By
Image
Why this challenge? This year I’ve decided to host a reading challenge because I think that they are a brilliant idea. They help to make reading a more collective experience and are a great way to find out more about any particular author / genre / topic and get to know about books you might never have come across. I chose this topic because - as an Italian who has been living abroad for many years now - I feel the need to learn more about my home country and I’m curious to see the difference between the way it is portrayed by native Italians and others. The details of the challenge The challenge will run from January, 1st 2011 to December, 31st 2011 . The aim of the challenge is to read at least 12 books that are set in Italy. Whether written by Italian authors or not, it doesn’t matter. They don’t have to be set exclusively in Italy but this country needs to play a significant role in the book. The challenge can include non-fiction books about Italy. You can also review Italian lea...
Read more