A Sister's Song (Victory Sisters #2) by Molly Green
Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas, WW2
Read: 10th April 2021
Published: 25th June 2020
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Her duty is to keep smiling through…
When World War II breaks out, Suzanne’s dream of attending the Royal Academy of Music crumbles.
Determined to do her bit, she joins a swing band that entertains troops in some of the worst-hit cities of Europe.
Through singing, Suzanne finds a confidence she never knew she had, and she soon wins the admiration of Britain’s brave servicemen.
But her heart already belongs to a Navy officer who is serving out at sea. The question is… will they meet again?
A gripping tale of love, courage and camaraderie, perfect for fans of Nancy Revell, Donna Douglas and Vera Lynn.
MY REVIEW:
We were first introduced to the Linfoot sisters with Raine's story in "A Sister's Courage" as she learnt to fly and took to the skies as a pilot for the ATA. Now the second in the Victory Sisters series by Molly Green, A SISTER'S SONG is middle sister's Suzanne's story as she fights against their staunch mother's resistance to her daughters opening themselves up to danger. It is also alluded to that Suzanne is their mother's favourite as she lives what appears to be her musical dreams through her daughter.
While older sister Raine found her niche, Suzanne believes she has found hers in music. With her talent on both the piano and the violin, Suzanne dreams to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London and someday start an all-woman orchestra. Her mother, Simone, wants this for her also and even when they lost their money she paid for a private tuition so that Suzanne's dreams had the chance to become realised.
When war broke out, Suzanne was still studying at school but now that she is 18, playing the violin in the village hall during an air raid somehow doesn't seem as important anymore. So when her friend in their local village's orchestra announces that she is joining ENSA - the Entertainment National Service Association - to entertain troops far and wide with music, comedy and song, she invites Suzanne along to see what it's all about. But in the early hours of the morning they were to go to London for Wendy's interview, a housefire claims the life of her dear friend. Realising that the people at ENSA would have no idea, Suzanne decides to travel to London to break the news to them herself...and ends up with an audition and job offer to travel and perform with ENSA herself! Suzanne, or Suzy as they have opted to call her, is delighted and feels that in this way she could really be helping bring cheer to the troops amidst the battle. There is just one problem - her maman (mother). Suzanne knows that there is no way her mother will allow her to give up her dreams of studying music professionally for a career.
But what Suzanne didn't realise was a gift that came in the form of a letter that not only shattered her world, but gave her the strength to stand up to her mother. The women battle it out with Simone digging her heels in and resorting to emotional blackmail. And then suddenly, in a surprising turn of events, she changes her mind and signs the forms allowing Suzanne to join and travel abroad with ENSA.
During the course of events leading up to this, Suzanne had met a charming young man who was standing in as an ARP warden for the usual warden who was ill. Introducing himself as James Mortimer, she later learns that he is a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and is currently on leave. By chance she meets his mother, Beatrice, who is just simply delightful and the two women form an unlikely friendship...much to the annoyance of Simone who believes that Suzanne already has one mother and she does not need another. Personally, I would much prefer Beatrice to have been Suzy's mother as Simone is just horrible. I found her to be controlling, overbearing, selfish and manipulative.
But even when Simone has reduced Suzanne to tears, the secret her mother makes her promise not to reveal to her sisters or anyone else but having already disclosed it to James, it was he who appealed to her to try and not be so hard on her mother as she doesn't know the circumstances which lead to such a shameful secret. Still Suzanne finds forgiving her mother to be difficult and leaves to travel with ENSA with barely a word goodbye.
Travel destinations with ENSA are kept top secret and the troupe do not know where they are going to until they get there. The find themselves travelling by coach, train, ship and finally plane to their final destination. Suzy meets Betty and the two become firm friends, though Suzy still thinks of Wendy often and how this had been her dream originally. During the sea voyage on a naval ship, Betty takes ill and spends most of the eighteen days in her bunk while Suzy embraces the beauty from the deck. When finally they reach their destination, Suzy is singled out to sing at the Governor's residence alongside famous jazz singer Adelaide Hall. But when their pianist falls ill suddenly, a stranger steps in to play for Suzy's performance. With his blonde hair and strange lilt to his accent, Suzy is shocked to hear him use the German diminutive "Ja" when she asked him if he knew a certain piece of music. But why would a German be here? Amongst the British?
When Suzy takes to the stage to perform she discovers a love for it in a way she never thought possible. While she would dearly love to perform the jazzy numbers, her forte has become to crooning melodies of ballads and focusing on the crowd before her, she likes to imagine that James is somewhere there hearing her sing for him. Although she hasn't seen him since he shipped out just prior to her leaving with ENSA, the two have corresponded frequently though mail can sometimes take months to get through, depending where they are or where he may be also.
Although Suzy is thoroughly enjoying herself performing for the troops, she continues to struggle to keep the secret her mother bargained her joining ENSA with. She hates keeping secrets from her sisters but she promised her mother, although she remains at odds with her over it.
Then when the ENSA troupe find themselves under attack, a decision is made to move on. However, Suzy has been given a lot to think about during her time in the Mediterranean and this last air raid attack made it that much clearer to her. She decides she needs to make her peace with her mother and to find James. But will she get the chance before it's too late? And will she ever see James again?
I enjoyed A SISTER'S SONG and learning more about Suzanne in the face of such adversity that is her mother. That despite the prospects and aspirations taken from her she finds other hopes and dreams to take their place. And the unexpected love she finds in James who I simply adored along with his delightful mother.
A SISTER'S SONG is more than just a story of wartime and entertainment of the troops through ENSA...it is about people. It's about love, secrets and family. And it is about the inseparable bond between sisters and their unwavering support of each other...no matter what.
I look forward to reading the third book "A Sister's War" which undoubtedly follows the youngest of the Linfoot sisters, Ronnie.
I would like to thank #MollyGreen, #NetGalley and #AvonBooks for an ARC of #ASistersSong in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Denise has travelled the world, unpacking her suitcase in a score of countries and working at more jobs than she cares to remember. Mentionable events include selling lipstick in a Denver department store to top English model of the day, Jean Shrimpton; typing on a French keyboard for the UN Narcotics Director in Geneva; chauffeuring a lonely Swiss multi-millionaire lawyer in Zurich; being the first fashion model in Atlanta to dance to pop music; working as a PA to a film producer and delivering a film script to Richard Harris in Rome and not recognising him (he was not amused); and cooking in a vegetarian sanatorium in Bavaria, which gave rise to her first hilarious memoir.
Back home in England, Denise reluctantly trained as an estate agent - and loved it! Juggling the running of her chain of eight offices in Kent with taking an Honours Degree with Open University, Denise had difficulty finding the time to pursue her life-long passion for writing.
To give herself the freedom to write she sold her business after 17 years, but unfortunately to the wrong buyers, namely a couple of tricksters, which resulted in a second, more serious, memoir. Buying back the business and after six years selling it once again, she is now able to resume her love of fiction writing, under the pen-names of Fenella Forster and Molly Green.
Having completed two books under her own name, Denise wanted to use a pen name for her historical fiction. She chose Fenella as she felt it was a more romantic name, and Forster after her true, but unknown, maternal grandfather. When signing with Avon Books, Denise chose the pen name of Molly Green where she has now written at least half a dozen books under the pseudonym, proving to be very successful with two of them reaching #1 on the Amazon Kindle chart.
Denise now lives in Tunbridge Wells in Kent with her husband Edward.
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