Goodnight Sweetheart by Pam Weaver
Genre: Historical fiction, WW2, Sagas, General fiction
Read: 22nd October 2020
Published: 14th May 2020
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
Can love find a way to overcome hate?
When Frankie’s mother dies, she is sent to live with her Aunt Bet in Worthing, Sussex. Life on their farm is happy – for a while. But when World War Two breaks out, Frankie must help her country by signing up to the women’s branch of the British Army.
Soon, she meets Romare, an American doctor who has come to the UK after facing terrible racism at home. But trouble is stirring in Britain too, and it falls to Frankie to try to protect him. Can love triumph over a history of hate? Or will Frankie and Romare’s love pay the ultimate sacrifice?
A moving, thought-provoking story, perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Maureen Lee.
MY REVIEW:
I've not read Pam Weaver before, despite having several of her books in my TBR pile, so I had no preconceptions upon reading GOODNIGHT SWEETHEART. But if references to other wartime fiction was anything to go by I knew I wouldn't be disappointed...and I wasn't. It is just the type of book I love to escape into with stories surrounding several characters during wartime without it being bogged down by history and wartime conflict. An easy read with the war as a backdrop without it being the main story.
Worthing 1933: The story opens with Frankie Sherwood celebrating her 10th birthday with friends Doreen and Jenny and their respective mothers on a picnic before returning to their terraced house. Her mother gave her a beautiful doll with a beautiful handmade dress made from scraps of expensive material offcuts her mother had been saving over the years. To Frankie, it was the most beautiful doll she had ever seen. Moira Sherwood was a seamstress by trade and made ends meet by taking in alterations and making clothing for which she charged a minimal sum.
Frankie adored her mother, having been raised single-handedly by her after the death of her father when she was just a baby. Her father had never recovered from the injuries he had sustained in the Great War and in the end, he succumbed to them after contracting pneumonia. As a child, Frankie's favourite story her mother told her was of the Russian princess Alexendrina who came into the dress shop where her mother trained before the Great War conflict, and how they had hidden her in a clothing trolley from a Russian "bad man".
The day after Frankie's birthday, she went off to school as normal whilst her mother went about her day. Little did Frankie know that when she waved her mother goodbye that morning that it would be the last time she saw her. Upon returning from school, Frankie was greeted by the St John ambulance outside her house and her neighbour informing her that her mother had died. Although it was thought to be her heart, her neighbour did hear some awful banging going on some time before discovering Moira's body at the kitchen table. Did someone have a hand in Moira's demise? Their sleazy landlord, for example, who was always trying to take advantage of a single mother with a child to raise?
After the death of her beloved mother, Frankie was sent to her aunt's farm a few miles away to live with them. She said so little to begin with as she tried to deal with her grief but soon found a common interest in dirt bikes alongside her two cousins, Alan and Ronald. Before long, Frankie had settled in and was stripping engines and putting them back together.
During her coming of age, Frankie takes up work at a florist where she reconnects with her childhood friend Doreen and despite her friend's strict religious upbringing, Frankie becomes a real support for her particularly after the death of Doreen's mother. And then there is her friendship with the more worldly Barbara who has a keen eye on Frankie's cousin Alan...much to aunt Bet's concern.
Then in 1939 war came to Britain. By this time she had lived at North Farm for six years and it now felt like home. The boys were like brothers and aunt Bet and uncle Lorry were like parents to her. Now on the brink of adulthood and not quite 18, Frankie so wanted to do her bit for the war effort and signed up to the ATS (Auxiliary Transport Service) whilst adding an extra year to her age. After several months of being called the Phoney War or the Boring War, a year after it being declared, the true horror then became real when the Luftwaffe began the Blitz on London and other major British cities. It is then that Frankie is thrust into the thick of the action as an ATS volunteer.
While most of the story is focused on the home front, we do get a glimpse into one of the most horrific conflicts of WW2 with the battle at Dunkirk. It is this conflict that her cousin Alan is in caught up in with his comrade Ginger. Despite it being just a small part of the story, the horror is felt within the pages, changing men who had once been happy go lucky into shells of their former selves. Frankie and her family were shocked at the change in Alan and despite all efforts, nothing could bring the old Alan back...until Frankie had an idea.
Then after an incident in which Frankie found herself in hospital, she meets gorgeous Romare Delaney, a black Amercian doctor in Britain to help with casualties as well as bringing much-needed plasma for transfusions. The couple were immediately attracted to each other and found ways to share leave as well as write to one another at their respective posts. As their love blossoms, so to does the rise of white supremacy and racism and the couple find themselves up against the bigotry that had followed black servicemen from their country. Some of the scenes are quite shocking and brutal, though not heavy in detail but just enough to give you the general picture serving to highlight the long shadow of racism and the horrific violence that followed it.
Interwoven with Frankie's story and those of her family and friends is that of Sidney Knight, Frankie and her mother's former landlord who had since moved into Frankie's former home she shared with her mother all those years ago. There are several hints to something untoward having taken place though the reader can only guess as to what it may be at this point. But one thing is clear, Sidney has a big secret to hide and will stop at nothing to ensure it remains that way. And the mystery surrounding Frankie's mother will eventually come to light...
A brilliantly written tale, GOODNIGHT SWEETHEART transports the reader back in time to 1930's and 1940's Britain. It was a beautiful easy read that once started could not be put down. Pam Weaver's style is such an easy one to slip into and enjoy, despite it's horrific subject matters. But the heart of the story is something more than that...it is gentle, it is sweet and it is pure escapism.
Although there were parts of the story that made me both sad and angry at the cruelty and injustice, there were also many parts that made me smile and made me cry with happiness. No matter how many wartime novels I read, I always find myself in tears at the announcement of the end of the war.
What a truly amazing read GOODNIGHT SWEETHEART is. I read it in two sittings - before bed and as soon as I got up - as I was so immersed within the story I was desperate to discover how it would all end up.
This certainly won't be my last Pam Weaver and I look forward to delving into many more in the future.
Perfect for fans of historical wartime sagas like Nadine Dorries and Pam Howes.
I would like to thank #PamWeaver, #NetGalley and #AvonBooksUK for an ARC of #GoodnightSweetheart in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
After training as a Nursery Nurse in the 1960’s, Pam worked in children’s Homes, private day nurseries and as a Hyde Park nanny. Her experiences are in Bath Times & Nursery Rhymes which became a Sunday Times best-seller.
Pam started writing in 1990’s with small magazines and specialist publications, finally branching out into the women’s magazine market in 2001. She has since written more than 200 articles and at least 150 short stories. They’ve been in Take A Break Fiction Feast, Woman’s Weekly Fiction Special, Weekly News, My Weekly and People’s Friend. Some have been in anthologies with the proceeds going to charity. The Fantastic Bubble was repeated on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service.
Pam's novels are set in Worthing; 'There’s Always Tomorrow' (2011), 'Better Days Will Come' (2012), 'Pack Up Your Troubles' (2013) and 'For Better For Worse' (2014) are all published by HarperCollins Avon. 'Blue Moon' (2015) & 'Love Walked Right In' (2016) are published by Pan Macmillan. Pam also has a couple of novellas on Kindle. 'Emily’s Christmas Wish' (2015) and 'Amy’s Wartime Christmas'.
If you are looking for murder mystery and intrigue in a saga… look no further!
Pam is married with grow-up children and lives in the seaside town of Worthing.
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