Heartache at Blackberry Farm (Blackberry Farm #2) by Rosie Clarke
Genre: Historical fiction, Wartime fiction, WW2, Sagas
Read: 5th October 2022
Published: 5th October 2022
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded Up)
DESCRIPTION:
A story of life and survival during the war which is heart-rending and bitter-sweet, bringing you laughter and tears.
Cambridgeshire – 1941
As the war rages on in Europe, it brings untold heartache to the Talbot family at Blackberry Farm.
First Tom is missing in action and then his brother John. leaving the family distraught with worry.
Faith finds herself in trouble and turns to Lizzie for support as fear and grief bring them closer together.
But tragedy is never too far away and when it strikes, it may not be those who fight that suffer most.
Will Pam’s prayers be answered and will both her sons return home?
And can the family at Blackberry Farm unite and surmount terrible grief to find hope and joy in a new life for the future?
MY THOUGHTS:
It's been so long since I read the first book in this series I had to go back to my review of it to refresh my memory. But then Rosie Clarke is such a prolific writer with her Harpers and Mulberry Lane series not to mention her standalones and now the Blackberry Farm series! It didn't take me long to catch up with everyone there and it was like coming home. Except I didn't have to get the dirt from the farm under my fingernails and over my clothes to do so.
It's 1940 and war has been raging for a year as we rejoin Pam and Arthur Talbolt at Blackberry Farm with both their grown and younger children. Tom and Lizzie have married, their youngest John is courting young nurse Faith whilst he is training in the RAF while son Artie remains on the farm helping his father with the aid of a couple of Land Girls. Their sisters Susan and Angela are preparing for uni and studying at school respectively. Also in their clan is Land Girl Jeanie Salmons, whom Lizzie met in London in the first book and Jeanie's baby niece Tina whose mother died in a gas explosion at their flat whilst her father Terry was recuperating in hospital from war wounds.
But Pam loves nothing more than a full house and cooking for everyone, ensuring their well fed and looked after. And she loves having little Tina in the house. Arthur has been building a house on the edge of the farm for Tom and Lizzie to live in and it is nearly complete. Lizzie has been buying what furnishings she can whilst Tom has been away fighting and can't wait until she and Tom can have their own home. But then Tom goes missing while on a mission but both Lizzie and Pam believe he is still alive.
Young nurse Faith has been stepping out with John Talbolt and while the two of them agreed to wait until the war was over to marry, they soon discover that anything can happen in conflict and that time is precious. John feels Faith has put nursing ahead of him when she moves away to a military hospital making their time spent together few and far between. But when John is declared missing over Germany, Faith finds herself in trouble and turns to Lizzie for support.
Meanwhile, Tom and Lizzie's nemesis Ralph Harris returns with revenge in mind but how does he plan on playing that out? As an added complexity to the story, Ralph is also Faith's uncle and does not mince words when letting Faith know his feelings towards her intended, nor Lizzie and Tom. But she has no idea why he dislikes the Talbolts so much as they have always been good to her, particularly when she finds herself in trouble and turns to them for support.
There is so much more to this story than I have touched on that will envelop you. War touches the lives of everyone changing some people's outlook and even the moral code of the day. People grab happiness where they can for they only have now, in that moment, as tomorrow isn't guaranteed. People live, fall in love, give birth and die. Tragedy comes in all forms.
I loved revisiting these heartwarming characters once again and I hope we don't have to wait as long to see them again. I can almost smell the home cooking in Pam's cooking and taste her succulent meals made with meagre rations and what they grew on the farm. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them once again and found myself completely invested within all their lives.
Blackberry Farm and the Talbolts welcomes us all with open arms, including the reader and I loved my time there with them. I cannot say how much I enjoyed this book and this series so far but if you enjoy Rosie's other series and pretty much this type of wartime fiction, then you will love HEARTACHE AT BLACKBERRY FARM as well as the series.
A thoroughly enjoyable and easy read I highly recommend.
I would like to thank #RosieClarke, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #HeartacheAtBlackberryFarm 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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