The Bobby Girls' War (The Bobby Girls #4) by Johanna Bell
Genre: Historical fiction, WW1, Sagas
Read: 9th May 2022
Published: 14th October 2021
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
1916. Poppy is being transferred to an enormous new munitions complex in Gretna, on the Scottish border. Even though it means moving far away from her best friends Maggie and Annie, she is excited for the challenge.
As a member of the Women's Police Service, it's her job to maintain law and order so that the factory workers can safely carry out their vital war work. She soon makes friends, and even starts to open herself up to the possibility of love.
But then she sees something in the dead of night, and suddenly the dangers of the war are no longer far away on distant shores. With the enemy hot on her heels and no idea who to trust, can Poppy save herself - and avert disaster for her country?
MY THOUGHTS:
I have followed Maggie, Irene and then Annie on their respective journeys from the beginning. Now in this fourth installment THE BOBBY GIRLS WAR focuses on Poppy, the more recent recruit to join Maggie and Annie when Irene was seconded to Grantham in the second book. And I must say, it was a delight to have Poppy shine this time around...and shine, she did.
1916: After Annie's little Christmas surprise the previous year, which therefore lead her to refrain from patrolling and taking over the running of the WPS Mother and Baby home she help set up at the end of "Christmas with the Bobby Girls", Maggie and Poppy took to patrolling the Holborn beat on their own. They had fashioned out a routine that worked for them in and around Kings Cross Station and the areas thereabouts and worked well together.
When Poppy is informed that she is required to see their commandant at WPS headquarters the following morning prior to her shift, she begins to worry that she may have inadvertently done something wrong and was about to be punished for it. Little did she know that Frosty had called her in to make her an offer to good to refuse. She has been recommended to the huge munitions complex in Gretna on the the Scottish border and, although she is saddened to leave her two best friends behind, she is excited at the new challenge that awaits her.
She is met at Carlisle by a somewhat stern looking sergeant who takes her to the complex and gives her a brief rundown before delivering her to the trusted hands of Grace and Ruth for Poppy to shadow for this shift to enable her to learn all she can about the job before her own shift begins the following morning. She feels somewhat thrown in at the deep end in some ways but she welcomes this new challenge and soon makes herself some new friends in Edith, Marie and Bessie.
However, Poppy soon discovers that there is more to learn than she had initially been shown by Grace and is faced with the many dangers the workers encounter on a daily basis. There are explosive chemicals which could be easily triggered with one wrong move and could be deadly. But along with the searches of the factory workers, the patrols, the safety of the township, workers and soldiers comes a different kind of threat...a spy is in the midst. Poppy has never had to deal with anything like this before but can she uncover the spy and keep the women safe? And in the shadow of the grief she carries, can Poppy find love again where she least expects it?
Like each of the previous books, THE BOBBY GIRLS' WAR is a different story again as we shift from London to the Scottish border of Gretna. And it was refreshing to get Poppy's backstory as well as a new one going forward. I love how Johanna Bell has focused on each of the girls respectively with each book so that they have all had a chance to shine. Do I have a favourite? It's hard to say. I really enjoyed the first one probably because it was the introduction to the women and everything that they do. But I would have to say Annie's story ("Christmas with the Bobby Girls") was a personal favourite with Poppy's running a close second.
But now that each of the womens' stories have been told, I have to wonder where do the Bobby Girls go from here?
Overall, THE BOBBY GIRLS' WAR is another fabulous addition to this heartwarming series and if it is to be the last then it has come to a heartwarming end, particularly showing how far the WPS has come in just a few short years. Incredibly well-researched, another wonderful read in this delightful series.
I would like to thank #JohannaBell, #NetGalley and #HodderAndStoughton for an ARC of #TheBobbyGirlsWar in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Johanna Bell cut her teeth on local newspapers in Essec, eventually branching into magazine journalism with stints as a features writer and then commissioning editor at 'Full House' magazine. She now has more than sixteen years' experience in print media. Her freelance life has seen her working on juicy real-life stories for the women's weekly magazine market, as well as hard-hitting news stories for national newspapers and prepping her case studies for TV interviews.
Her first book "The Bobby Girls" was published by Hodder in 2019 followed by its sequel "The Bobby Girls' Secrets" in May 2020. The third in the series "Christmas with The Bobby Girls" will be published in November 2020.
When she's not writing, Johanna can be found walking her dog with her husband or playing peek-a-boo with her daughter.
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