Sometimes I hear about a book when it is launched but somehow miss the tide. Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce was published in 2018 and two weeks later became a Sunday Times top ten bestseller. In 2019 it was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club. The first few pages are fresh and engaging, light humour at a time when people when people were living day to day in the Blitz. My only doubt was that I would find the jolly tone too much if it continued for the whole novel. 
It is 1941 in London and Emmy Lake applies for a job as a war correspondent and instead finds herself typing up letters for the problem page of a distinctly faded women’s magazine, Woman’s Friend. The premise is fascinating. The tone is full-on jolly which at times is irritating. The strength of the book for me lies in the second half.
Emmy lives with her friend Bunty on the top floor of Bunty’s grandmother’s house. Both girls have daytime war jobs and volunteer in the evenings. Emmy is frustrated by her boss Mrs Bird’s dismissive rules about letters from emotional young women and starts to reply directly to the women, hiding the letters and posting her replies in secret. When she doesn’t get found out, she becomes bolder, and prints one of her replies in the magazine. Dumped by telegram by her boyfriend, Emmy agrees to go out with Bunty and her boyfriend William and finds herself set up with a blind date. As Emmy’s love life takes a turn for the better, the girls’ friendship is tested as it has never been tested before. Inevitably, Emmy’s letter writing catches up with her in spectacular fashion and she is sent home.
The book is at its best when examining the relationship between Emmy and Bunty, the depth of their loyalty, and what happens when cracks begin to appear. This is a lightweight, cozy war romance which takes a serious tone towards the end. An easy weekend read.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK
Read how AJ Pearce researched London in World War Two for Dear Mrs Bird.
If you like this, try:-
‘Please Release Me’ by Rhoda Baxter
‘You’ll Never See Me Again’ by Lesley Pearse
‘One Step Too Far’ by Tina Seskis
And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview DEAR MRS BIRD by @ajpearcewrites #WW2 #romance https://wp.me/p5gEM4-49f via @SandraDanby
SANDRA DANBY'S BOOK REVIEWS 