A Ration Book Victory (East End Ration series #8) by Jean Fullerton
Genre: Historical fiction, WW2, Wartime fiction, Sagas
Read: 2nd May 2022
Published: 5th May 2022
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
In the final days of war, only love will pull her through . . .
Queenie Brogan wasn't always an East End matriarch. Many years ago, before she married Fergus, she was Philomena Dooley, a daughter of Irish Travellers, planning to wed her childhood sweetheart, Patrick Mahon. But when tragedy struck and Patrick's narrow-minded sister, Nora, intervened, the lovers were torn apart.
Fate can be cruel, and when Queenie arrives in London she finds that Patrick Mahon is her parish priest, and that the love she had tried to suppress flares again in her heart.
But now in the final months of WW2, Queenie discovers Father Mahon is dying and must face losing him forever. Can she finally tell him the secret she has kept for over fifty years or will Nora once again come between them?
And if Queenie does decide to finally tell Patrick, could the truth destroy the Brogan family?
MY THOUGHTS:
I guess it goes without saying that with such a title A RATION BOOK VICTORY would mark the end of the war and therefore bringing a close to the series. And of course I haven't been with the Brogan family for the duration, meeting them only halfway through and then again with this final installment. Having met them in "A Ration Book Wedding" I was eager at the prospect of revisiting them once again and, thus the focus of this book and my favourite character, Queenie.
As A RATION BOOK VICTORY brings an end the series the story also takes us back to the very beginning, enlightening readers as to Queenie's early years back in Ireland. Now it goes without saying that Queenie is probably everyone's favourite character. She has spunk, she has character, she has enough gumption to scare Hitler into submission had she been given the chance. But she was also lovable and in this final installment, we are given a glimpse into her past untold and a secret that she has carried with her for the past fifty odd years.
It's February 1945 and what appears to be the final days of the war as the Allies begin to push the enemy further back towards surrender. The people of Britain have had enough of war after six long years, particularly in the East End where they copped the brunt of the Luftwaffe's bombs and then the dreaded doodlebugs and V-2's. But the stiff upper lip of the British people remain stoic throughout and the Brogans are the stalwarts of the Irish East End. They've seen births, marriages and deaths in their family that is fit to bursting and now we come full circle as the story goes back to the very beginning to the last century, in the days of the old Queen, before this generation and the next were even a twinkle.
Before she was Queenie Brogan, she was Philomena Dooley, born August 1871 in the Emerald Isle to a travelling family before they set their roots down in Kinsale. When she was but five years old, the outspoken Philomena (even then) met young Patrick Mohan who was but a year her senior. The two are inseparable friends over the years despite his family being the prosperous farming family and she but a tinker's daughter. In a time when class was everything, it meant nothing to the two friends who grew to be inseparable into their teens. But a tragic twist of fate came between them...and thus a further turn of events that would change the course of Philomena's life forever.
Now it is 1945 and Queenie has lived through two world wars, marriages, births and deaths and she stands alone as the matriarch of the Brogan clan. She has raised a family, become a grandmother and a great-grandmother and now she lives with her son Jeremiah and his wife Ida with their three remaining children at home - Billy, Michael and Victoria (a surprise baby). But don't let her age fool you, Queenie is a feisty old woman when she wants to be, particularly when it comes to protecting her brood.
But one thing has always remained. Love. A love that was promised until her dying breath. Its secret running deep that has never died. And now Queenie must face the past and reveal the secret she has held for over five decades...before it's too late.
As the final in this heartwarming series, A RATION BOOK VICTORY is about love...coming home...revelations...and coming full circle. It is an end of an era. There are some heartbreaking as well as heartwarming scenes, so have those tissues handy. There are also a couple of famous (and infamous) figures who feature briefly. Ronnie and Reggie Kray as young teens. And the brief appearance of Princess Elizabeth amidst VE celebrations.
I love the dual timeline aspect of A RATION BOOK VICTORY, which takes us back to another time and a much younger Queenie, with hopes and dreams, before she was matriarch. It sheds something of a light on the lovable old woman as we see her in a much different way. Alongside young Philomena's story continues the ongoing saga of the Brogans and their lives and loves, as the war comes to an end bringing change for everyone.
I wasn't there in the beginning for the Brogan's story - for all their respective births, marriages and deaths - but I caught a glimpse and I intend on going back and meeting them all again from the beginning sometime. A RATION BOOK VICTORY is a wonderful heartwarming read that will make you laugh and cry as it brings this delightful series to a close. But although it has come to an end, the books will live on and readers can relive their enjoyment and the loves and lives of the Brogans from the beginning.
I would like to thank #JeanFullerton, #CorvusBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #ARationBookVictory in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Jean first fell in love with history at school when she read Anya Seton’s book Katherine. Since then she have read everything she could about English history although she is particularly fascinated by the 18th and 19th centuries in which her books are set.
Jean loves her native city and the East End in particular which is why she writes stories that bring that vibrant area of London alive.
Jean is the author of seven historical novels. She is a qualified District and Queen's nurse who has spent most of her working life in the East End of London, first as a Sister in charge of a team, and then as a District Nurse tutor
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