Wartime Blues for the Harpers Girls (Harpers Emporium #5) by Rosie Clarke
Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas, WW1
Read: 8th July 2021
Published: 6th July 2021
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
LONDON 1917
As the Americans enter the War, there is renewed energy in the war effort.
With husbands and sons fighting for freedom, the women of Harpers are left to tackle the day-to-day affairs at home and work.
With Ben Harper away, Sally fears she is being followed by a mysterious woman. Who is she and what does she want?
Maggie Gibbs collapses seriously ill in the frontline hospitals and is brought back to England close to death. Can she be saved and what does the future hold for her and her broken heart?
Marion Jackson’s father is on the run from the Police already wanted for murder. She fears he will return to threaten his family once more.
And Beth Burrows is pregnant with her second child, worried and anxious for her husband Jack, who has been many months at sea.
As Christmas 1917 approaches what will the future hold for Harpers, its girls and their men at War?
MY REVIEW:
I have still yet to read the very first book in this series and possibly go back and re-read the second, which I didn't really enjoy all that much, because from the third book onwards I have found myself invested in the lives of the Harpers girls and all of that therein. I read "Harpers Heroes" back to back with this one WARTIME BLUES FOR THE HARPERS GIRLS and I think that this is possibly the best yet in the series.
Whilst "Love and Marriage" saw the girls amidst the suffragette movement, "Rainy Days" marked the beginning of the war and "Heroes" took us into 1915 and the throes of war, WARTIME BLUES FOR THE HARPERS GIRLS takes us into 1917 and the third year of WW1 with finally an end in sight. I'm guessing the next book will see the end of the war and the onset of the deadly Spanish flu.
Throughout the series we have watched the girls grow and become women, most of them marrying and some even having children. What began as four unmarried women - Beth, Sally, Maggie and Rachel - joining Harpers in the beginning has now become an even bigger assemblage fondly referred to as the "Harpers family". There have been good times and bad times, laughter and tears as the journey with Harpers continues.
It's 1917 and the Great War continues to claim more lives as the results of the loss of loved ones as well as the continual shortages are felt at home. Harpers has felt the sting of shortages as none of their suppliers are able to access the materials they had been before the onset of war, therefore the quality of products are suffering and Sally Harper tries her best to source newer and more interesting items to ensure the shelves of Harpers remains sufficiently stocked. Meanwhile, her husband Ben continues his secret work for the War Office, often leaving his wife and now four year old daughter Jenny for weeks at a time. Sally knows Ben, as an American, is doing his bit for the war effort and the country he now calls his own. On top of all this, Sally is being followed by a mysterious woman. Who is she and what does she want? Whilst continuing to balance work and home lives respectively, Sally falls ill and Ben fears he may lose her.
Since the birth of her first child, little Jack, Beth gave up her job at Harpers and is now expecting her second. Her husband Jack is still away for months at a time with the Merchant Navy, sometimes with little to no word. She frequents Harpers to make purchases and see her friends or just to enjoy tea and a chat with Sally in her office. Beth doesn't play as big a part in this book as she has in the past but she is still there in the background.
Working as a VAD nurse in a Field Hospital close to the frontline, Maggie has devoted her life to treating wounded soldiers and making comfortable those on the brink of death...particularly after the death of her fiance Tim. Her former colleague Sadie had left the service when she fell pregnant and is now living with a French family in the village where they would often vist. But after years of devotion to the treatment of soldiers, Maggie herself falls ill with a fever and delirium. As soon as she has stabilised enough, she is sent on a ship back home where she is to be treated in a hospital in Wiltshire. It seems after caring for so many soldiers she had picked up a fever they often carried from the trenches and she was thus lucky to be alive. After several weeks in the hospital she is sent to the countryside in Devon to convalesce where she meets the belligerent and irritable Captain Colin Morgan, who seems to have taken exception to Maggie for her having acquired the mostly unused annexe for her room in a house full of men that the Captain had seen as his own. Knowing he is lashing out due to his own situation, Maggie has seen many like him and treats him accordingly as she would have any other soldier under her care. And the two form an unlikely friendship.
Rachel continues to work as supervisor at Harpers while her personal life seems to be falling apart. Having married William Bailey and living in the beautiful flat he had decorated for her, she now finds herself mostly alone with William often working away. When he us home it feels as if he is absent or at the club with his friends and Rachel begins to wonder if he has regrets about marrying her. But nothing will prepare her for the news that is to come and sees William sent away where she will be unable to see him or even write to him. Until one day, she comes across a little girl sitting hunched over on the ground in tears, her mother having just died and her grandmother throwing her out. Little did she know that little Lizzie would change Rachel's life in more ways than one.
Newly married Marion Jackson was enjoying married life to husband Reggie who was now being sent to the front whilst she remained at home caring for her younger siblings alongside her sister-in-law Sarah. She continued to work in the hat department at Harpers as well as helping out as a window dresser in the absence of Mr Marco. Life at last was good for Marion and her family until an unexpected visitor darkened their door one evening, changing everything. Her father who was on the run after beating her mother to death had returned to claim his place in what he thought of as his house with the wife he claimed had cheated on him. Although she had died due to the last beating he gave her, her father took one look at Marion and as she resembled her mother, saw her as his wife and thus flung all his anger at her with threats of more violence until help stepped in. Believing they were safe, Marion knew her father would continue to return until the police caught up with him. And then in the midst of all her woes, came an unexpected surprise which would bring happiness to their lives once more.
Then Marco's time in France came to an end with him being recalled to Britain, his cover having been compromised. But upon his return, he brought with him a little surprise of his own - a wife and child - when Marco's persuasion had secretly been known throughout the Harpers family leaving everyone somewhat puzzled. So who were they and why had he brought them back?
As with all the Harpers books, there are several stories running throughout entwined together with each of the characters. But there was just something about this installment that I found far more engaging. The Harpers family give a real sense of community with the love and friendship they share with one another that continues over the course of each book. But like with most sagas, with each one comes ups and downs, love and loss, heartache and tragedy as new generations begin.
I thoroughly enjoyed WARTIME BLUES FOR THE HARPERS GIRLS and look forward to what comes next for each of the women and their loved ones.
Recommended for fans of historical fiction sagas and wartime fiction.
I would like to thank #RosieClarke, #Netgalley, #RachelsRandomResources and #BoldwoodBooks for an ARC of #WartimeBluesForTheHarpersGirls in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Rosie loves shoes, especially those impossibly high heels you can buy and has a gorgeous pair of Jimmy Choos but can't wear them so they sit on the mantlepiece.
Rosie also writes under the name of Anne Herries and Linda Sole.
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