#FridayReads – If you like WW2 Historical Fiction try these books

Here is a selection of WW2 themed Historical Reads which I can recommend.

1944 and Anna is parachuted into Normandy as a special agent working with Resistance Groups, spying on the Germans and wiring the information back to the Special Operations Executive, escaping capture and the inevitable torture that would follow.

She falls in love with Pierre, another SOE agent but finds he is not what he purports to be. Then there is the little matter of the Gestapo officer who has guessed her secret. Alone, Anna has to make some terrifying decisions to survive and to ensure the impending invasion remains secret.

It is 2006 in England, where her husband has died and Anna lives alone. Her children are spying on her and plot to put her in a home so that they can sell her house for their own ends. Anna is determined to retain her independence. She falls back on her wartime skills, recruiting Nathan and his girl friend Gemma to help her and becomes close to them as she never was with her own children.

But it is only when she returns to Normandy and confronts the ghosts of her past that she realises how the war had taken its toll on her loveless marriage and her children. She makes the ultimate sacrifice and finally finds the peace and redemption that had evaded her all these years. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Fifteen year-old Kate Wolseley lives a rarefied life of wealth and privilege in the expatriate community. But when the Japanese take over the colony in December 1941, she’s interned in squalid Stanley Camp with her parents. Forty miles away, in Macau, Sofia Rodrigues’ suspicions are aroused when her father invites a Japanese family to dinner, an event which leads to a breach between Sofia and her controlling half-brother, Leo. Enduring cramped conditions, humiliation, disease, and starvation, Kate befriends seventeen year-old Charles – who’s half Chinese – and they give their hearts to each other under the orchid tree. Can their love survive the war?

In December 1948, Kate returns to Hong Kong, determined to put the past behind her. Sofia dreams of leaving Macau and starting a new life, and she won’t let anyone, not even Leo, stop her. A young Englishman, James, becomes the link between Kate and Sofia. The communist-nationalist struggle in China spills over into the colony, catapulting the protagonists into the turmoil with disastrous consequences.

A coming of age story set against the background of conflict and changing values in society.
From the perils of internment to the beauty of Hong Kong’s fragrant harbour, Siobhan Daiko’s novel will take you on a sensuous journey of adventure, romance and redemption. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Mary is a nursing sister at a Lancashire prison camp for the housing and treatment of German POWs. Life at work is difficult but fulfilling; life at home a constant round of arguments—often prompted by her fly-by-night sister, Ellen, the apple of her short-tempered father’s eye. Then Frank turns up at the house one night—a guard at the camp, he’s been watching Mary for weeks—and won’t leave until she agrees to walk out with him. Frank Shuttleworth is a difficult man to love and it’s not long before Mary gives him his marching orders. But Shuttleworth won’t take no for an answer and the gossips are eager for their next victim, and for the slightest hint of fraternization with the enemy. Suddenly, not only Mary’s happiness but her very life is threatened by the most dangerous of wartime secrets. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

When war baby Sophie joins the macho world of 1960s journalism she’s determined to prove that she’s ‘one of the boys.’ But a shocking phone call from her estranged mother sets Sophie on a quest to discover the secret of her birth.
Was her father the all-American soldier she dreamt of when she was a child, or someone far more sinister? This is the story the ambitious reporter was destined to write.
Helped by the charming but mysterious David, Sophie uncovers a heartbroken wartime orphan, a GI romance and a terrifying rape that leads to an innocent man’s court martial – and clues to her own unhappy childhood.
Torn between her secret love for Steve, the newspaper’s most eligible bachelor, and a desire to know who she really is, Sophie follows David to find her father. Only when faced with the startling truth can she accept the tragedy of love, loss and betrayal and begin a very different kind of future. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

It’s 2006 and Alex Mullen is coming to terms with a terrible past. Meeting up with Frankie, who shared the bad times, exposes one of Australia’s cruellest secrets. In Falmouth, 1942, commando Philip Seymour sails for France. Left on the quayside is Rosie, a half-Romany girl looking for something more from life than collecting old clothes to sell on for pennies. Philip, who turned down a commission on principle, is pal Tucker—haunted by dreams of strange beasts hanging in his father’s cold store, and Anderson—a mean spirited wide-boy who Philip doesn’t quite trust, are about to make history in the audacious raid on the docks of St Nazaire. What befalls the commandos shapes the lives of Rosie, Alex, and Philip in ways none of them could have imagined. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

It’s 1945 and, as the troops begin to return home, the inhabitants of London attempt to put their lives back together. For 25-year-old Millie, a qualified nurse and midwife, the jubilation at the end of the war is short-lived as she tends to the needs of the East End community around her. But while Millie witnesses tragedy and brutality in her job, she also finds strength and kindness. And when misfortune befalls her own family, it is the enduring spirit of the community that shows Millie that even the toughest of circumstances can be overcome.

Through Millie’s eyes, we see the harsh realities and unexpected joys in the lives of the patients she treats, as well as the camaraderie that is forged with the fellow nurses that she lives with. Filled with unforgettable characters and moving personal stories, this vividly brings to life the colourful world of a post-war East London. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

This never-before-translated masterpiece-by a heroic best-selling writer who saw his life crumble when he wouldn’t join the Nazi Party-is based on a true story.

It presents a richly detailed portrait of life in Berlin under the Nazis and tells the sweeping saga of one working-class couple who decides to take a stand when their only son is killed at the front. With nothing but their grief and each other against the awesome power of the Reich, they launch a simple, clandestine resistance campaign that soon has an enraged Gestapo on their trail, and a world of terrified neighbours and cynical snitches ready to turn them in.

In the end, it’s more than an edge-of-your-seat thriller, more than a moving romance, even more than literature of the highest order-it’s a deeply stirring story of two people standing up for what’s right, and each other. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Book reviews in November FleetLife @FleetLife #Bookreviews

November has some of my book reviews featured in Fleet Life

For the online edition go to http://www.fleetlife.org.uk, load the online directory and find my reviews on page 36.

This month the following books are featured

When the Crows Fly Low by V.J Patterson

Runes by Ednah Walters

Fetch Nurse Connie by Jean Fullerton

A Boy Named Rabbit by Marcia Meara

and The Dead Detective by J.R Rain

Rosie’s Coffee Break – When a book makes you think more…about Queen’s Nurses #MondayBlogs

This feature is about books that have left me thinking more about the story or the characters, so much so that I’ve gone away and done some extra research.

In FETCH NURSE CONNIE by Jean Fullerton we met Nurse Connie Byrne. She was a Queen’s nurse, midwife and District Nurse for St. George and St Dunstan Nursing Association., and worked through WW2.  These nurses kept the people of London, patched up, delivered babies, held clinics and dispensed much need care and attention. They worked through rationing, black-outs and bombing and they were set to keep London working as it began the big clear up.

Fetch Nurse Connie

So I wanted to know more about Queen’s Nurses.

(source – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Nursing_Institute)

In 1859, Liverpool merchant and philanthropist William Rathbone employed a nurse named Mary Robinson to care for his wife at home during her final illness. After his wife’s death Rathbone decided to employ Robinson to nurse people in their own homes who could not afford medical care. The success of this early experiment encouraged him to campaign for more nurses to be employed in the community.

Elizabeth Malleson who was concerned to find that there was little local service of nurses for pregnant women in the 1880s. Malleson arranged for a trained nurse and midwife to be available to serve the people of Gotherington. Malleson’s scheme was not the first but she decided to form a national organisation and her appeal for help brought her into contact with Lady Lucy Hicks-Beech. She was the wife of Michael Hicks Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn and they gathered enough support to launch a Rural Nursing Association.

These were the beginning of organised district nursing. By the end of the 19th century, with the help of Florence Nightingale and the approval of Queen Victoria, the movement became a national voluntary organisation responsible for setting standards and training nurses. In 1887 ‘the women of England’ raised a Jubilee Fund of £70,000 to mark Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The Queen announced that the money should be used for nursing, and Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Institute for Nurses was chartered in 1889. Elizabeth Malleson’s nurses became the Rural Nursing Division in 1891 was Malleson was its secretary.  Rosalind Paget was the main organisation’s first Superintendent, and later Inspector-General. Queen Alexandra agreed to be patron in 1901, and a Queen has been Patron of the charity ever since. From 1928 the Institute was known as The Queen’s Institute of District Nursing, until it assumed its present name in 1973.

What book have you recently read which intrigued you to find out more?

Fetch Nurse Connie by @JeanFullerton__ #HistoricalFiction #Bookreview

Fetch Nurse Connie by Jean Fullerton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fetch Nurse Connie is historical fiction set in the East End of London 1945. If you love war dramas and are fascinated by how the ordinary people coped then this is for you.

Connie Byrne is a Queen’s Nurse, midwife and District nurse for St George & St Dunstan Nursing Association. We join her as the end of WW2 is announced and London begins to celebrate and welcome home it’s menfolk from the fighting.

Through-out the war Connie and the other nurses kept the people of London, patched up, delivered babies, held clinics and dispensed much needed care and attention. They’ve worked through rationing, black-outs and bombing and they are set to keep London working as it begins the big clear up.

Connie can’t wait for fiancé Charlie Ross to return home, she hasn’t had a letter for several years, but she’s counting down the days until she sees him again. She has the church booked, the dress all made and the wedding planned, all she needs is her man.

Post-war changes and shortages of nurses in the health service mean than nurses no longer have to leave their positions once married. This is a relief to Connie and her friend Millie who are warn out dealing with the demands of their patch, their Superintendent and their personal lives.

This book is set in the same time period as “Call Nurse Millie” also written by Jean Fullerton and I have enjoyed both of the books. The nursing side is fascinating and I do like looking through the window into the past lives of those thrown together by the war and by circumstances beyond their control.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Romancing September author Jean Fullerton (Day 14)

We are now at Day 14, I can’t believe we have nearly done two weeks of the tour. Our guest today is Jean Fullerton. Don’t forget to pop over to Stephanie’s blog later and catch up with Jean’s views on romance writing romance in today’s society.

Let’s find out more about Jean;

1) Where is your home town?

My home town is Stepney which is an area in East London alongside the London docks and the river Thames. It’s also a short walk from Whitechapel High Street, Jack the Ripper Country. My family – the Fullerton’s have lived in the area since 1824 when my great-great-great-great grandfather moved from Scotland and settled in the area. All my family’s records are in St George’s in the East church which I’ve featured in every book so far.

2) How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing since 2002 after I went on a NHS management course and was advised to take up a hobby to combat work-related stress. I’d been a life-long reader of historical fiction so that seemed the obvious thing to write.

3) How many books have you written? Are they all historical novels set in East End London?

Now there are two answers to that question. I’ve written seventeen books in total but only nine have been published. Three with a small publisher in America some years ago but I now have 5 mainstream books and another due out in Feb 2014 all of which are set in East London.

4) “Call Nurse Millie” is a subject dear to your heart, can you explain to the readers your connection?

The reason “Call Nurse Millie” was such a joy to write is not only because it is set in the East London streets I know and love but like Millie I am a Queen’s Nurse and have worked on the ‘District’ in East London for over twenty years. I always enjoy researching a story but searched out all the little bygone nursing details of Millie’s work was a labour of love.

5) Millie does her job in post war Britain, what everyday hardships did the nurses have to deal with?

One of the most obvious was the lack of food. War-time food rationing didn’t finish until 1953 and Millie’s work was physically demanding. She had to lift dozens of people out of bed each day, carry buckets of water through houses and upstairs to wash her patients, plus cycle to visits. All this on a little over 2500 calories a day no wonder the average woman was an English size 10 in 1945.

6) Millie finds romance amongst the hardship, where did she meet her beau? what were her first impressions of him?

She met Alex Nolan at a dance on VJ night. She thought he was very attractive, a fantastic dancer but perhaps a little too sure of himself. Alex, of course, is absolutely gorgeous.

7) Millie’s neighbours surprise her with their generosity, is this an East End London trait?

I think generosity amongst neighbours is more a traditional working class trait rather than an exclusively East End one but there is something very open hearted about native Cockneys

8) Do you think your book could be an historical education as well as entertainment?

I like to think so. The facts are all correct and I’m thrilled when reviewers comment of the social history I portray as well as the cracking story.

9) With shortages and rationing, Nurses had to keep their mode of transport secure. Can you tell the readers what transport they used, how many years did go on for?

Most nurses used bicycles for their rounds as cars were much too expensive to buy and run especially with petrol rationing. After the war some nurses rode scooters to save their aching legs but by the end of the 1970’s most had small cars. That said bicycles are still used by district nurses in some parts of central London as it’s impossible to drive and too expensive to park.

10) Fans are calling for the sequel, are you writing one? When can we expect it to be published?

Well I’m please to tell you that All Change for Nurse Millie is in production and will be released on 13^th Feb 2014 but for those of you who can’t wait for the next instalment then there is a special e-novella Christmas with Nurse Millie out on the 21^st November.

I thoroughly recommend this book and I reviewed it here on the blog a few months ago, to get your own copy click on these links; Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Thank you Jean it’s always a please chatting with you, Good luck with the new releases.

Good Deeds week 26th May – 1st June.

May 26th – Doing the rounds of blogs and Tweets. Proud to support Harula who has taken up the challenge to do a Good Deed a day with me. http://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/a-week-of-good-deeds/

May 27th – Spring Bank Holiday here in the UK today, it’s been a pretty lazy day filled with book reading! (My perfect type of day!) Just e-mailed a friend to offer to be the driver on our night out at a show on Tuesday.

May 28th – Bit of a strange day today. Tried to make the girls at work tea or coffee before I left, but they declined my offer. Was able to give away some of my rice that I had won to a friend as payment for a dress alteration, but then she felt unqualified to alter the dress, left her the rice anyway. Took another friend out to see a show, but she became ill and left half way through. Stayed up until 2am with my son as he had a bad cold and couldn’t settle. I think the universe was testing my resolve today.

May 29th – Had a good clean and tidy up around the house today. Emptied out all my copper coins from pots and purses and added to my jam jar. Set up a book review and posted to Goodreads and Amazon.

May 30th – Started reading a new book ready to review for an author. The children are on half term school holiday so my usual routine is different. I’m not out and about so much this week. Days at home mean that I need to search out different ways to do Good deeds. A late trip to the supermarket allowed me to have a friendly chat with the lady at the till.

May 31st – Editing, editing, editing, Oh I hate editing! Ploughing my way through painful editing of my second book. Popped out for an hour to drop off some items to my Mum. The June issue of Fleet Life dropped through the door today, so I scanned it in to my blog and set up a post ready to publish when the on line version goes live. Hopefully tomorrow! 5 more authors get a bit of free publicity.

June 1st –  Publication day for the on line version of Fleet Life. Was eager to get my post out, but they hit an upload problem which wasn’t sorted until this afternoon, featured authors were Jean Fullerton with “Call Nurse Millie”, Julia Hughes with “The Griffin Cryer”, Dan and Sean Campbell with “Can’t Sell, Won’t Sell”, Alan Titchmarsh with “The Haunting” and Judith O’Reilly with the book which inspired these weekly posts “A Year of Doing Good”.

Rosie’s Reads in the June Issue of Fleet Life

This month I’m proud to present the following books as part of Rosie’s Good Reads in my local Fleet Life magazine. Over 5000 copies go out to people in the area and the on-line version is available world wide. Go to www.fleetlife.org.uk click on the on-line directory and find me on page 10 of the June issue.

Call Nurse Millie by Jean Fullerton

The Griffin Cryer by Julia Hughes

The Haunting by Alan Titchmarsh

Can’t Sell, Won’t Sell by Sean and Daniel Campbell

A Year of Doing Good by Judith O’Reilly.

Call Nurse Millie by Jean Fullerton book launch and review

Call Nurse Millie by Jean Fullerton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was lucky enough to be able to read a pre-published copy sent to me by Jean; 1945 and fresh out of the war torn years, we follow Millie a qualified District Nurse and mid wife while she takes her skills on to the streets of East End London, where rationing still exits, people pay for health care and friends and neighbours rally round when it really counts. If you love post war British history when everyone is recovering and getting themselves back on their feet and the way a community pulls together in times of strife, mixed with a little romance, then this is a book for you.
Jean will be taking part in an interview on Tuesday 21st May on BBC Radio Essex at 2.20pm combined with an on-line launch on the 22rd. She is also running a giveaway on Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17…

View all my reviews

“P” AtoZ Challenge

This is the third and final book by Jean Fullerton on the challenge, Jean has been one of my guest authors http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-j0 and will be taking part in The Very British Blog Tour 2013.http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-dQ During the challenge we are asking everyone to PLEASE leave a comment, thanks.

Jean has given us some behind the scenes material about her book Perhaps Tomorrow;

Perhaps Tomorrow is set in Victorian East London- Jack the Ripper hunting ground. The heroine is Mattie Maguire, a young widow struggling to keep the family coal yard running and raise her young son. Enter Nathanial Tate recently escaped convict from Botany Bay. When he meets Mattie Nathaniel quickly realises the man he seeks Amos Stebbins also threatens Mattie but very soon Nathaniel’s quest to bring Amos Stebbins to justice take on a sinister twist.  Again the story is set in and around the impoverished streets of London’s dockland.

Mattie Maguire is a twenty-six-year-old widow with an infant son. Since her husband, Brian, died three years before, she has struggled to keep the family’s East End coal business solvent, as well as taking care of her troubled mother-in-law. But unbeknown to Mattie, life is about to get even tougher. Maguire’s is in the path of the proposed Wapping to Mile End Railway extension that Amos Stebbins is trying to raise capital for, and he has his sights set on the deeds of the coal yard. Outwardly, Amos is a respectably married local benefactor. But he has a darker side and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Nathaniel Tate is the son of a poor farmer who used to be employed by Amos as a clerk, until he was wrongfully convicted of embezzling money that Amos stole. Sent to a penal colony in Botany Bay, Sydney, Nathaniel escaped after receiving the news that his wife and children had died. Now he has returned to London, hell-bent on killing Amos, whom he holds responsible for his family’s destruction. Tracking Amos down to Maguire’s, a desperate and penniless Nathaniel accepts Mattie’s offer of work. But as Nathaniel begins to help Mattie turn around the fortunes of the business, and the pair grow ever closer, he starts to think less of revenge and more of the possibility of a future with Mattie. That is until a furious Amos reveals Nathaniel’s true identity to Mattie – and the police.

Buy Perhaps Tomorrow on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perhaps-Tomorrow-ebook/dp/B004JHY6VY/ref=la_B002BOD3HA_1_5_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1363721093&sr=1-5

Here is what one reader thought about the book;

I have been eagerly awaiting this third book by the very talented Jean Fullerton. I loved her first two books, No Cure For Love and A Glimpse at Happiness and this one is even better.
It has all the ingredients of a bestseller. A cracking story, totally authentic and historically accurate setting and her best hero to date. Nathaniel Tate lights up the page; he’s tough,resourceful, intelligent and totally scrumptious. He is an escaped convict (having been sent to Botany Bay)and has returned to seek revenge on the man who sent him there.
This man is Amos Stebbins. Stebbins is everything a villain should be; on the outside a pillar of society but actually totally corrupt.
Mattie Maguire is the perfect match for Nathaniel. She is running the coal yard that Stebbins is trying to obtain by deception, but is barely making ends meet. Nathaniel, of course, helps her turn round the fortunes of the business and the two of them fall in love.There are many exciting twists and turns before the two of them are safe from the machinations of the evil Stebbins.I was captivated from the very first page and sat up late two nights in a row in order to finish the book. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Now there is another long wait until her next book appears.

Here are 5 links to randomly chosen AtoZ Bloggers;

http://unknown-teachermom.blogspot.co.uk/

http://gyrangymble.blogspot.co.nz/

http://coffeedrivenandadventurebound.blogspot.co.uk/

http://lifefaithincaneyhead.blogspot.co.uk/

http://shaylakwiatkowski.blogspot.co.uk/

“N” On the AtoZ Challenge

With the letter “N” I bring you the second book on the challenge written by author Jean Fullerton. Jean has recently appeared on the blog as a guest author http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-j0 and I will be hosting her as part of The Very British Blog Tour 2013.http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-dQ During the challenge we are asking everyone to leave a comment as part of the big blog push, thanks.

Here is some inside information from Jean about todays book “No Cure for Love”;

No Cure for Love. Is set in Victorian East London and features the lovely red-haired Irish heroine Ellen O’Casey. With a voice and face of an angel Ellen attracts Doctor Robert Munroe who falls for her the moment he sees her. Unfortunately, she also catches the eye of Danny Donavan, the head a criminal gang whose motives aren’t so honourable. As Ellen and Robert fall in love they must battle not only the social gulf that divides them but also the deadly danger of crossing Danny Donavan.

You’ll fall in love with Ellen O’Casey, an Irish Catholic immigrant, is struggling to support her ailing mother, her teenage daughter and herself. Washing other people’s laundry in the day, and singing in bawdy pubs at night, Ellen is determined to make a better life for her family by saving enough for the passage to New York where the rest of her extended family have already emigrated. But Danny Donovan, a local gangster and the landlord of the pubs where Ellen sings, intends to make her his mistress. A widow in her late 20s, Ellen has refused to let another man in her life, least of all the brutish Danny, whose advances she doggedly resists.

About the Author

Jean Fullerton is a native Londoner and was born in the East End within the sound of Bow Bells. Until she was five her family lived in Wapping, alongside the Thames, and then moved to Stepney. She is a trained nurse and teaches healthcare and nursing. Her husband is a Church of England vicar, and his parish includes the site of the 2012 Olympic Games. She has three daughters.

Buy No Cure for Love http://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Cure-for-Love-ebook/dp/B003NUSBEG/ref=pd_sim_kinc_2

Here are 5 randomly chosen bloggers also doing the AtoZ Challenge;

http://thecontemplativecat.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.unclemacsgardenshed.blogspot.co.uk/

http://katsretirementjourney.blogspot.co.uk/

http://threesidesofcrazy.com/

http://whimsicalquestsofacuriousmind.blogspot.co.uk/

P.S. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those touched by the Boston Marathon bombs.