Heaven and Hell for the Tobacco Girls (The Tobacco Girls #4) by Lizzie Lane
Genre: Historical fiction, Wartime fiction, WW2, Sagas
Read: 28th February 2022
Published: 3rd March 2022
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Bridget Milligan has donned a uniform and joined the nursing services where she becomes intrigued with the miracles of modern medicine. She’s also torn between family loyalty, her new career and Lyndon O’Neill, the love of her life. Is it too impossible to hope that everything will come out right in the end?
Phyllis Harvey is still serving in Malta where she sees the casualties of war first hand. Finally it seems like Phyllis is blessed with true in love, but fate can sometimes be a rocky road and nothing is that certain.
Maisie Miles is left holding the home front at the tobacco factory but with the sudden death of her grandmother finds herself once more alone in the world. However, thanks to a substantial inheritance, she is able to extend a helping hand to a friend in desperate need.
There are tears and laughter, goodbyes and new arrivals along with the hope that new beginnings are not far over the horizon.
MY REVIEW:
The fourth book in The Tobacco Girls series, HEAVEN AND HELL FOR THE TOBACCO GIRLS picks up from where the previous one left off as we follow the lives and loves of the Three M's - Bridget Milligan, Maisie Miles and Phyllis Mason (now Harvey).
To recap, the three girls became friends whilst working at the Wills Tobacco Factory (I can never recall its full name) in Bristol. Bridget and Phyllis had been friends for some time with young Maisie Miles joining their group with the onset of war in 1939 when her stepfather Frank Miles saw fit to have her employed there so she could then furnish him with information regarding deliveries and routes, thus Frank then relieving the delivery lorries of their cargo to sell on the black market. His partnership with local gangster Eddie Bridgeman saw him land himself in hot water, paving the way for Eddie to try and nab his hands on the very young Maisie...just how Eddie likes them. Once he tires of them, he then pimps them out to keep him in the lap of luxury to which he's accustomed. But Maisie was a force to be reckoned with, and with the help of her new friends, saw Eddie Bridgeman off, along with Frank Miles, in the hands in the local constabulary. Phyllis Mason had been walking out with Robert Harvey, forced together by her mother who saw herself above her class. But Phyllis saw fit to better herself by taking typing classes to become a secretary, only falling into bed with her tutor and up the duff soon after. He fled and Phyllis was stuck with Robert whom she married to give her baby a better future. But when Robert was declared missing believed dead and Phyllis miscarried, she then fled the imprisonment of her mother in law and signed up with the Royal Women's Air Force and being sent abroad where she met the love of her life in Malta - an Australian named Mick Fairbrother. Meanwhile Bridget Milligan's family has been separated due to air raids on the city with her younger siblings living in North Devon for the past two years but now they are home, but home is no longer familiar to them. Feeling restless herself, Bridget longed to see her beau, American Lyndon O'Neill, one of the plantation owners supplying tobacco to the factory in which she works. But Lyndon has been trying to make his way back to England to be with the girl he loves.
Now it's 1943 and Bridget has signed up to join the Civil Nursing Auxiliary with plans to become a nurse and do her bit to help with the war effort and with Phyllis now in the services herself in Malta, leaving Maise the last one of the three M's at the tobacco factory. But Maisie has stepped up since she was the young girl who joined all those years ago and has taken young Carole under wing just as Bridget and Phyllis had done for her...particularly as Carole reminds her so much of her younger self. With her bottle blonde hair and fire engine red lipstick, Carole idol is Jean Harlow and in her naivete sets out to replicate the actress in looks and spunk. But unbeknownst to her, dangers lurk in the background that could bring her world crashing down and change her life forever. Wise beyond her years, Maisie foresees trouble before it hits in some cases (others not so much), but in any case she is there to help and support the young girl who has no one. Having inherited a house, land and money from her grandmother, Maisie invites Carole to come and live with her...which suits Maisie since she doesn't much fancy living alone either. But then there is someone linked to her father that threatens to take everything from her, citing her claim to be who she says she is. There is only one way she can prove who she is and that is to see the one person she never wished to see again - Frank Miles. But can Maisie keep what is rightfully hers?
Since the attack on Pearl Harbour in the last book, which Lyndon just managed to escape, the Americans have finally joined the war bringing with them many sought after items that have long since been rationed in Britain - lipstick, nylons and even things like chocolates and sweets. But the only thing from the US Bridget longs for is Lyndon, who is working tirelessly to try and get back to the woman he loves. But it has been so long between letters, Bridget's mother Mary fears Lyndon is just uttering promises he doesn't intend to keep in order to have his way with her daughter. Needless to say, when she does come face to face with Lyndon the air is frosty indeed. In the meantime, she has signed up to be a nursing auxiliary but her dedication and aptitude see her being recommended for training to become a fully-fledged nurse. But the one thing that nurses cannot be is married...so should Lyndon return to England, she must hold him off until she is fully qualified. But it has been so long Bridget fears will she ever see him again?
Phyllis Mason, though still Harvey but in name only, has been through much in the past few years as well as her life. Her mother has long since scarpered for a life with her own man, adding that there was no room for Phyllis, and so she has had no one to count on but her friends and herself. But now that she is abroad in Malta there is only herself to look out for her. After her train wreck of a marriage, Phyllis resigned herself to a life of spinsterhood...until she met and fell in love with Australian Mick Fairbrother and together they continue to make plans for her future, despite her still being married to Robert Harvey. Phyllis plans to divorce her brutish husband and rid herself of him and his horrible mother, but that is no mean feat stationed hundreds of miles away on an island in another country. Meanwhile, the couple remain happy and continue to plan their future together and she has written to her friends that she has finally found love of her life. Mick is a pilot flying for the RAF but being a pilot is a dangerous occupation. He could easily be shot down and disappear into the sea...and Phyllis fears every time he goes out on a mission. Will Mick return safely to Phyllis or is she destined for heartbreak once again?
This series continues to grow from strength to strength as situations change and the threat of invasion grows ever near. A lot of research has gone into this series to make it the success that it is and to bring each and every character to life...even the hateful ones. But HEAVEN AND HELL FOR THE TOBACCO GIRLS is tinged with sadness as we bid farewell to a couple of much-loved characters, one of which even brought a tear to my eye. As always, the story is filled with grief, anxieties, love and laughter as each come into their own as they grow from strength to strength (just as this series has).
HEAVEN AND HELL FOR THE TOBACCO GIRLS is an engaging addition to The Tobacco series that was a quick read as I revisited the women and their lives in Bristol and beyond. My one complaint is the ending. It was so abrupt, I turned the page to find only "Historical Notes" instead of another chapter. I felt like I was in the middle of a conversation that just ended abruptly with the disappearance of whoever I may have been talking with. It was just gone.
I look forward to seeing where Book 5 takes the girls as they move towards the European invasion and D-Day, marking the beginning of the end of the war. And where the girls will go from here.
With tears and laughter, HEAVEN AND HELL FOR THE TOBACCO GIRLS (in conjunction with the rest of the series) is perfect for fans of wartime sagas such as Rosie Clarke, Pam Howes and Nadine Dorries.
I would like to thank #LizzieLane, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #HeavenAndHellForTheTobaccoGirls in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Lizzie Lane is the author of over 50 books, a number of which have been bestsellers. She was born and bred in Bristol where many of her family worked in the cigarette and cigar factories. This has inspired her new saga series for Boldwood The Tobacco Girls.
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