#BlogTour ‘A Mother’s War’ by Mollie Walton

About the book…

North Yorkshire, September 1939.
Rosina Calvert-Lazenby , the only surviving member of her family and widowed by forty-four, has lived at Raven Hall all her life. With war approaching, Rosina must be strong for her daughters, five confident young women who are thick as thieves.

When the RAF come to stay at Raven Hall, Rosina finds herself intrigued by their charismatic, albeit young, officer. But is there time for love with the war looming and her eldest daughter leaving home?

Grace Calvert-Lazenby , twenty-one years old and newly graduated from Oxford, is determined to live a fuller life. Leaving behind her mother and sisters at home, she joins the Women’s Royal Naval Service.

Trading the safety and familiarity of Raven Hall for exhausting drills, difficult training and conflicting acts of secrecy will not be easy. But Grace knows that everyone has a part to play in the war and she is ready for a brave new adventure.

With so much on the line, Rosina and Grace must learn how to push themselves and have the courage to lead those around them into the unknown . . .

This heart-warming, dramatic World War II saga is perfect for fans of Vicki Beeby, Kate Thompson and Rosie Clarke, ‘A Mother’s War’ by Mollie Waltonis out now from Welbeck publishing, huge thanks to Maddie for my gorgeous hardcover review copy!

This book, as Sergeant Harry Woodvine would say is proper jam!

I absolutely loved it,beginning as it does with Churchill’s declaration of war, and encasing it in the immediate fallout for the residents of Raven Hall

Reluctant heiress and landowner, Rosina Calvert-Lazenby is the widowed mother of 5 daughter, Grace, Evvy, Connie, Daisy and Dora.

As war breaks out, all of them are determined to do their bit including Grace who joins the Wrens along with housemaid Nancy.

In wartime, both young women are setting off for places beyond where they have ever been, emotionally and physically, as they begin to train as Morse Code Linguists. This is the first time away from home for Grace and she is lucky to have Nancy as she discovers boys, and finds her voice.

At home, Rosina is learning to manage with a reduced number of household staff and, being keenly aware of her privilege, looks to see how she can support the war effort.

Taking in RAF soldiers and giving them bed and board, she finds herself challenged in managing to keep her estate going,as well as feeding and caring for her 4 other daughters, all of whom have been sent home from school-and in Evvy’s case from art school in Paris to drawing designs for propaganda posters.

Even more imminent are the feelings which she begins to develop for one of the men under her roof. But as a widow with a considerable amount of baggage, can she, in this social climate, reach out and take what she has always longed for? She knows what she had with her husband, George, was not quite right, and has longings which he never met-there is this lovely detail about her hidden copy of ‘Lady Chatterly’s Lover’, so she is well aware of her landed position and how it would look for her to take up with another man!

I absolutely loved all the details that this book is chock full of, such as the way that the WRENS trained, the history of Raven Hall, the fear engendered by a war which was being fought so far away and yet came incrementally closer as the book progressed.

The colloquial way in which some of the characters speak really gives the tone a familiarity and warmth which expresses the way in which this time frame, to an extent, eroded class barriers and made things possible for women to achieve. This is shown in both Nancy and Grace passing their exams to be linguists whilst the rich and beautiful Lucinda finds to her dismay, that she cannot get by on who her parents are.

Each sister is so well presented and whilst this volume focuses on Grace, I hope that in the manner of the Seven Sister novels by Lucinda Riley, that each girl will have a book of her own. I cannot wait to return to Raven Hall which has such a detailed history and Rosina, the woman who fell for a man who did not ignite any passion in her, yet she did not regret meeting because of her five wonderful daughters which came from their marriage!

About the author…

Mollie Wharton is also known as Rebecca Mascull, bestselling author of ‘Miss Marley’, which she completed on behalf of her friend, the late Vanessa Faye, as well as ‘The Visitors’, ‘The Wild Air’ and ‘The Seamstress Of Warsaw’.

Rebecca Mascull is an author of historical fiction. She also writes saga novels under the pen-name Mollie Walton, The Secrets Of Ironbridge’ is the first in her Ironbridge trilogy. Her books have been published by Hodder & Stoughton, HarperCollins & Bonnier Zaffre.

Rebecca has a Masters in Writing and is currently a Fellow for the Royal Literary Fund, based at the University of Lincoln.

Links-https://rebeccamascull.co.uk/

Twitter @rebeccamascull @welbeckpublish