Tag Archives: Maisie Thomas

JANE CABLE REVIEWS…

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Three books read for pleasure and another for research… My book of the month for January is the brand new family drama from Judith Barrow, Sisters, which was published by Honno last week.

Sisters by Judith Barrow

This novel about how childhood lies spiral into adulthood had me gripped from the very first chapter. One sister causes a dreadful accident and the other is blamed. The set up sounds simple enough – one moment changes both their lives. But it is the complex and realistic emotions involved that made this book as we follow Angie and Lisa from the estrangement of their teenage years into their twenties and beyond.

Judith Barrow is such a skilled storyteller I was completely immersed in the narrative, living alongside the characters as the plot played seamlessly out. It is hard to say too much about the story itself without including spoilers, but take it from me, Sisters is a first class read.

 

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

I’m not sure why I didn’t expect to enjoy this book; perhaps it was the style of the prologue and first few pages that put me off, but once I got into the story I forgot all about it.

I have to say that happened very quickly. Such brilliant characters, I think I could have forgiven them anything, and there were plenty of things to giggle at too, which I didn’t really expect. As for the mystery I enjoyed the ride and the red herrings very much, but I wasn’t completely convinced by the final outcome. It just didn’t seem as well embedded as the rest of the plot, which was a bit of a shame.

 

A Christmas Miracle for the Railway Girls by Maisie Thomas

I can hardly believe that this is the sixth Railway Girls saga; I have enjoyed them all so much and the stories still feel fresh. Of course the characters are familiar and this book focuses on Cordelia, Mabel and the return of Colette. I had a hunch that would happen, but how it came about, and how this important strand of the story was hold surprised me.

The tension attached to this storyline had such emotional power I was so invested at one point I had to put the book down. I couldn’t bear to carry on reading, and yet I had to know what happened. Always an excellent writer, think is Maisie Thomas hitting a new high. Challenging, uncomfortable, and it made me angry.

But the book ends at Christmas and of course miracles do happen. And the gentler counterpoint of Cordelia’s story was perfect foil to Colette’s making it a brilliantly rounded read.

 

The Four Swans by Winston Graham

I love a Poldark novel; they are fast becoming a go-to comfort read, although in this case I read the next in the series to immerse myself in the era in Cornwall. Although I am writing some fifteen years later I was delighted to discover that the family inspiring me, the Bassets of Tehidy, had more than walk on parts in The Four Swans.

The swans are the four women in Ross’s life and although I loved the full richness of the tapestry drawn, the thread that drew me most was Demelza’s and Hugh Armitage’s pursuit of her. As ever the whole novel was superbly written and brilliantly researched. These are not modern classics for nothing.

 

 

SUNDAY SCENE: MAISIE THOMAS ON HER FAVOURITE SCENE FROM A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE FOR THE RAILWAY GIRLS

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What could be more Christmassy than a children’s party? In the latest book in The Railway Girls saga series, the friends organise a series of parties to make Christmas extra special. By Christmas 1942, following the victory at El-Alamein, there was a new sense of hope in the air, but there were still severe shortages to contend with at home.

At Miss Brown’s suggestion, some ancient curtains had been borne down from the attics and the WVS had cut them up and sewn them into velvet and chintz sashes for the children.

‘Some will have party clothes and others won’t,’ said Miss Brown. ‘This way, everyone gets something special to wear and afterwards it can all go to salvage.’

One set of red velvet curtains had been used to make a Father Christmas suit for Kenneth. One of the WVS ladies produced a curly white wig, which she allowed Cordelia to chop up and turn into a beard. Last year, Kenneth would never have offered to dress up in this way. He had been far too much of a stuffed shirt. It brought home to Cordelia that she wasn’t the only one who had changed.

She couldn’t have been more delighted with how the party went. From the moment she saw the children walk into Darley Court’s grand entrance hall, where their eyes popped open at the sight of the holly-bedecked bannisters, mantelpiece and hearth, and the two huge flags hanging proudly symbolising the friendship of two great nations, she knew the afternoon was going to be everything she’d hoped for.

She had asked if a piano could be provided.

‘But I never expected a baby grand,’ she whispered to Persephone.

Persephone grinned. ‘This is Darley Court, you know. Only the best for our guests.’

Persephone and Alison took turns to belt out popular tunes, ‘Run, Rabbit, Run’ for musical chairs, ‘It’s a Hap-Hap Happy Day’ for pass the parcel and ‘(We’re Gonna Hang Out) The Washing on the Siegfried Line’ for railway stations.

The Americans, bless their generous hearts, had provided heaps of chocolate bars. Not only could every game have first, second and thirds prizes, but there were going to be enough left over for every child to have one to take home.

While hunt the thimble was in progress, to the accompaniment of ‘Bless ’Em All’, Cordelia and her team of helpers put out the sandwiches and fairy cakes in the next room. The food might not be Christmassy, but the room was decorated and one of the land girls was going to play carols while the children tucked in.

Once all the sandwiches and little cakes had been demolished, there was a loud knock on the door.

‘Who’s that?’ asked the children, looking round.

‘Is it Father Christmas?’ asked one tot.

‘No, honey, it’s the US Army,’ announced a handsome young American soldier, walking in, followed by more soldiers, much to the delight of the children – and also, Cordelia noticed, to the delight of the women helping. Cordelia’s heart sank. Yes, the arrival of the soldiers was exciting, but was Kenneth in his guise as Father Christmas going to be upstaged?

Persephone called for silence.

‘In a moment, I’m going to ask all the children to stand up and tuck their chairs under, so we can walk outside in a nice line, because we’ve got a special visitor.’

Cordelia frowned. This wasn’t part of her plan.

Everybody trooped outside and there, coming up the drive, was an American jeep in the back of which was a big chair and sitting on it was –

‘Father Christmas!’ shouted the children, jumping up and down in excitement. ‘It’s Father Christmas.’

A little girl tugged at Cordelia’s hand. ‘Is he the American Father Christmas? Is he different to our Father Christmas?’

But Cordelia was too choked with tears of pride to answer.

 

JANE CABLE REVIEWS THREE VERY DIFFERENT SECOND WORLD WAR NOVELS

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Hope for the Railway Girls by Maisie Thomas

I rarely follow a whole series, but the Railway Girls’ Second World War novels gripped me from the very first one. The characters are fresh and stand out from the page, there is tension, pathos and heartbreak, but more than that, there is joy – and that is important.

So often I find sagas descend into what I call ‘it’s grim up north’ where the heroines’ hardships and battles become so impossibly dark the book is no longer a pleasure to read. What is so clever about Maisie Thomas’s work (both in this series and The Surplus Girls, which she writes as Polly Heron) is that the moments of high tension – and frankly apparently insoluble conundrums – are balanced by humour and happiness. And of course, they’re so very beautifully written.

In this fifth book we follow Alison as her new romance develops, Joan as she approaches motherhood, and a relatively new viewpoint character Margaret, who I found the most interesting of all. If you haven’t read the other books these names will mean nothing to you, but I urge you to go back and start at the beginning of the series. You have an absolute treat in store.

 

The Helsingor Sewing Club by Ella Gyland

I love an unusual Second World War story and when I heard this one was set in Denmark I really wanted to read it. In part my choice was influenced by having loved Elizabeth Buchan’s I Can’t Begin To Tell You so much, but The Helsingor Sewing Club deals with a completely different aspect of Danish resistance.

I didn’t know that, thanks to the Danish (albeit puppet) government, Jews were safe from persecution until 1943. Or that when the wrath of the Nazis descended on them the vast majority of Danes were prepared to help them to escape. This book provides a fascinating glimpse into that tiny slice of the country’s history and I loved it.

But no novel is ever a history lesson and Ella Gyland creates wonderful characters, not always brave, sometimes full of fear and even despair, but you love them all the more for it and root for them all the way. The whole story is fraught with tension and there are some truly heart-stopping moments too. My only slight reservation is that I thought the book was strong enough to stand without a contemporary narrative running alongside it, although I do appreciate most readers will have loved it exactly the way it is.

 

The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart

I’m a sucker for a great premise: in 1942 radio engineer Will regains consciousness after a bombing and realises the love of his life, Elsa, is missing. But he is told there was no one else living with him, and no records of her seem to exist.

Seventy years later Will is struggling to cope and is refusing care, but he sees a kindred spark of loss in Laura and lets her in. It’s a prickly, difficult, unlikely yet beautiful relationship which evolves as strange things happen in the house compelling Laura to try to uncover what happened.

The flashbacks to Will’s wartime romance with Elsa provide relief from the unremitting greyness of Laura’s battle with mental illness and Will’s with old age. Whose mind is playing the most tricks? Clues are revealed, but none of them fit; indeed some of them seem completely contradictory.

Every thread is drawn together in the end, and although I found the ultimate answer deeply unsatisfying, I have to say I enjoyed the journey.

 

 

THE RAILWAY GIRLS IN LOVE AND THE CHALLENGE OF WRITING THE BOOK

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“What was the most challenging aspect of writing The Railway Girls in Love?” That’s what Jane Cable asked me. I imagine she – and you – think maybe it was difficulties with the plot. But no. The plot was sorted out eighteen months previously. The book is part of a series, you see, and I have to be on top of the plot at all times, and that includes knowing what is going to happen in future books.

Maybe, then, you’re wondering if there was a particular character I found tricky to put on the page. Again, no. Having already written two books about my Railway Girls, I feel I know them inside out.

What, then, was the most challenging thing? Was it when my editor mistakenly sent me the wrong version of the track-change document for editing? Nope. That ended up meaning that I had two track-change documents open side by side, but it couldn’t be described as a challenge.

The most challenging thing – and I can’t begin to describe how I struggled to cope – was that The Railway Girls in Love was my spring 2020 lockdown novel – and the public library was shut. If I tell you that all but a few scenes of both The Railway Girls and Secrets of the Railway Girls were written in the local library, you’ll perhaps start to understand why the library closure posed a problem. For me, writing is about discipline, and discipline is about routine – and my routine was to go to the library every morning and knuckle down to work. I was astonished by how hard I found it to work at home. It’s not as though I live in a madcap household full of noise and disruption – quite the opposite. I can’t explain it. All I can say is I found it remarkably tough to work at home instead of tucked away in my little corner of the library.

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And now, dear Frost reader, you may be asking why I asked Maisie Thomas that particular question. It was because the more I thought about The Railway Girls books, the more I realised they were about the challenges these women faced. It could be said that is the essence of a saga – the increasing obstacles heaped on the characters, who have to beat them all to find their happy ending.

That could all sound rather grim. As could living through wartime Manchester with its air raids, worries about dear ones at home and abroad, and all the suffering and privations that entails. But The Railway Girls in Love, although dramatic at times, poignant at others, is a genuinely uplifting read as these vastly different women help each other and themselves to live out their hopes and resolve their fears.

The third book in the series, this one brings the stories of Joan, Mabel and Dot to resolution with a happy ever after for one of them (as much as can be achieved in wartime, that is) and at the very least happy for nows for the others. It has recently been announced there will be more Railway Girls books (hooray!), focussing on three of the other characters, but I can’t help thinking there is still more to tell about these three too.

I am sure you can tell I am a huge fan of these books. Why? Rich in research, with period detail woven into the story rather than distracting from it, writing that carries you along without you even noticing it. Add to that characters you really care about and gripping plot lines, they really are the most accomplished and enjoyable books.

 

The Railway Girls in Love is published by Arrow on 15th April.

 

 

 

 

CARIADS’ CHOICE: MARCH BOOK REVIEWS

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Carmel Harrington’s My Pear Shaped Life, reviewed by Kitty Wilson

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of Greta Gale, the highs and lows of trying to learn to value yourself. The author wrote empathetically about addiction, body issues and familial relationships. As a reader I was willing Greta on and particularly loved her travels across The States. We could all do with an Uncle like Ray. The author weaves the story of The Wizard of Oz throughout which is exceptionally deftly done, beautifully illustrating the light and the dark within us all.

 

Christina Courtenay’s Echoes of the Runes, reviewed by Kitty Wilson

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, both narratives kept my attention and made me want to keep reading. It was fascinating reading the contemporary storyline and the archaeological detail. The romance kept me hooked and the little bit of jeopardy (no spoilers!) had me willing Mia and Haakon on.

However, it was Ceri and Haukr who captured my heart. I loved this storyline and could have read so much more about them. I rarely find a captive and captor romance convincing but Christina Courtenay writes these characters with such empathy it is impossible not to fall a little in love with them and their story. Am greatly looking forward to the next in the series.

 

Kate Johnson’s Death on the Aisle, reviewed by Evonne Wareham

This is the third book in the Molly Higgins amateur sleuth series from award winning author Kate Johnson, who confidently mixes romance with cosy crime. It can be read as a stand-alone but there are recurring characters and story lines so reading the series in order would be beneficial, and all are enjoyable. The first, Death Comes to Cornwall, was a recent nominee for the Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller of the Year Award. In this third book Kate takes some classic ingredients for romance – hunky hero, capable independent heroine, a Cornish fishing village and a cupcake café and mixes in a celebrity wedding, a film set, a virtual reality show, the wedding planner from hell and a couple of fairly gruesome murders. If you like romance with a hefty dash of crime and sleuthing, it’s an enjoyable read.

 

Carol Lovekin’s Ghostbird, reviewed by Jan Baynham

This is a magical tale that kept me spellbound until the end. I was able to marvel at the figurative language and poetic nature of the prose without it detracting from the pace of the story. The characters are very well drawn, displaying deep emotions, and I was particularly fond of Cadi. Secrets unravelled and the reader journeyed with all the characters to a satisfying conclusion. I loved the interaction between Cadi and the ghost. With its beautiful cover, Ghostbird is a book I thoroughly enjoyed, a book I kept returning to in my thoughts long after I’d finished reading it. Highly recommended.

 

Maisie Thomas’s Secrets of the Railway Girls, reviewed by Jane Cable

I loved the first Railways Girls saga, and the second book in the series did not disappoint. Set in World War Two in Manchester it vividly portrays the lives of women from vastly different backgrounds thrown together to help keep the country’s rail network running.

Although this book focuses on Dot, a working class forty-something grandmother, other stories are woven around hers so cleverly you just have to keep turning the pages. From the horrors of the Christmas blitz to cosy chats in the station tea room, all human nature is here and the writing is so wonderful it draws you in completely. I’m definitely having withdrawal symptoms having finished this one – luckily the next book is due out in April.

 

 

GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS – Jane Cable reviews two World War Two sagas

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Although I am about to review two excellent books I have a bugbear I need to share. Not just aimed at these two, but at the saga publishing world in general. Why, oh why, do books featuring grown women have to refer to them as girls? Yes, I know it’s become a shorthand that readers recognise, but it still grates on me. Oh well…

It is particularly the case in point with Maisie Thomas’s The Railway Girls, because one of the most engaging and interesting characters in Dot, who is well into her forties. She is the sort of woman who organises and takes care of everyone to her own detriment, but determined to strike out and help the war effort, through which she is to find a great deal of self respect.

That is the premise of this excellent book; women from different backgrounds who were thrown together in 1940 to help keep the nation’s vital railways running. The challenges they face, the friendships they form and even their romances weave together into an utterly believable tapestry, depicting wartime Manchester as it surely was.

Thomas’s research must have been meticulous but it is the richness of her storytelling that had me hooked. The detailed descriptions fitted so easily into the narrative the pictures were painted as the story moved along, and that is a rare talent. There is quite an extensive cast of characters too; not only Dot, Joan and Mabel, who will be the focus of the series, but other railway workers as well as their families at home.

For a debut novel this is stunning writing, perfectly paced and never rushed, a slow and realistic journey through the phoney war, Dunkirk and into the beginnings of the blitz.

Vicky Beeby’s The Ops Room Girls is equally enjoyable but totally different. Here the story gallops along, making it difficult to put down, and there were places towards the end when my heart was actually thudding.

Again it features three women, but all of them are young and from modest backgrounds although they all join the WAAF for different reasons. This book (also the first in a series) focuses on Evie, a working class girl whose scholarship to an Oxford college was ripped away from her. The characterisation in this book is so good I was feeling for her within the first few pages and really wanted to know where her story was going.

The answer is the operations room of an airfield in West Sussex, where she arrives in the summer of 1940. She makes friends with glamourous former actress Jess and shy May who has been perpetually put down by her father and brothers. All of them are escaping from something but become totally committed to the war effort.

I expected this, and I expected love stories, but what made this book stand out is the mystery that had to be solved as sabotage rears its ugly head on the base. It is a compelling plot strand that certainly kept me turning the pages.

 

The Railway Girls by Maisie Thomas is published by Arrow and paperbacks and ebooks are available now. The Ops Room Girls by Vicki Beeby will be published as an ebook by Canelo on July 16th but can be ordered beforehand.