The Secret Sister by Liz Trenow
Genre: Historical fiction, WW2, Wartime fiction
Read: 1st April 2023
Published: 3rd April 2023
★★★★ 3.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
Lizzie tried to put herself into her brother’s shoes, imagining how she might feel facing those same dangers he’d witnessed. Scared as anything, she thought. But if that was what was needed to win the war, she’d do it. As she looked at herself in the mirror, wearing her brother’s coat, she knew in that moment what she must do to protect him.
England, 1944: As Lizzie looks around her twin brother’s room, she’s in a state of shock. In the middle of the night Ed vanished, leaving no forwarding address. Lizzie knows that he was tormented daily by what he witnessed at Dunkirk four years before, helping his father steer their tiny boat to rescue thousands of injured soldiers. He was never the same after that.
Then, Ed’s call-up letter arrives. Instead of being assigned to one of the forces, he’s been told to report for work at a coal mine – one of fifty thousand ‘Bevin boys’ chosen to help produce the fuel to power the nation through the war. If he fails to turn up he will be arrested and tried as a deserter. Staring at his abandoned clothes and knowing how alike they are, Lizzie realises there is a way to save him.
Arriving for training, she meets a fellow Bevin boy named Peter and is instantly drawn to his quiet, thoughtful nature, so unlike the other men who share her dormitory. And as the two start to adapt to their new lives underground, they develop a strong bond.
Lizzie knows the risks she is taking to save her brother. If she grows too close to Peter her secret will almost certainly be revealed, and they will both be imprisoned. But with the war raging and her beloved country at risk, how much is Lizzie prepared to sacrifice to save those she loves the most?
A completely gripping and heart-breaking story of love, courage and a sister’s sacrifice which shines a light on the forgotten heroes of World War Two. Perfect for fans of The Alice Network, The Nightingale and anything by Rhys Bowen.
MY THOUGHTS:
With so many books taking place during WW2 flooding the market, it's refreshing to have a different type of tale to tell. With men being conscripted for National Service to fight for King and Country, THE SECRET SISTER tells of a different story. One in which young men, boys really, are conscripted as Bevin Boys by ballot to work in the coalmines, though a service not recognised at the end of the war when all the servicemen returned home and they were kept a mile underground mining coal for the country.
The story begins in 1940 as twins Lizzie and Edward listened to the radio one evening with their parents and older brother Tom. The Prime Minister was calling for those with small seaworthy boats with shallow hulls, to help ferry the injured men at Dunkirk to the waiting transport ships at sea. Their Pa jumped at the chance to take out the "Mary Ellen", whom he'd been lovingly restoring, and help along with Tom as crew. But when lifeboat crewman knocked on their door asking the same of them, the men found themselves in a quandary. Three men, two boats. Then Ed announced he can help crew. Ma piped up over her dead body was her thirteen year old boy going into a warzone! However, when morning came Lizzie and Ma found them all gone.
The sights Ed saw at Dunkirk would haunt him for the rest of his days. It was something no man should ever see, let along a thirteen year old boy. But he pulled his weight and they helped ferry over 100 wounded men to safety. But upon returning home he wasn't the same. He was angry, sullen and moody. Lizzie, who had always been able to read her twin, couldn't even shake him. He began to dread the day they turned 18 and would receive their call-up papers. Their brother Tom had since been called up and was now an RAF pilot.
In July 1944, the twins turned eighteen. And Ed received his call-up for his medical, which he passed with flying colours. But the memories of Dunkirk so traumatised him that Ed flees in the night before he receives his papers.
Lizzie knew Ed was gone the moment she wakes and despite failing her own medical, she does everything she can to prevent the authorities from coming after her brother. When his papers arrive with orders to report for training in Sheffield, Lizzie makes a decision that could prove either brave or foolhardy. What follows is a dangerous subterfuge in which Lizzie has to act, live and work as a Bevin Boy. All the while hoping her twin brother will resurface before she is discovered and he is condemned for cowardice.
THE SECRET SISTER is a story of love, sacrifice, honour and family. It is about one sister's love for her twin and the sacrifice she made to save him from condemnation as a deserter. It is about one man's fear that is so prevalent it causes him to take such drastic action, leaving his sister to save his honour in his place. It tackles PTSD on a different scale when it didn't even have a name or was even recognised for what it was. And then there is the different side of the war that few of us knew about. The Bevin Boys. Young men conscripted as coalminers instead of the front. How ironic that Ed ran away for fear of being sent away to kill or be killed, when he was never even conscripted to fight in the end but to work in the coalmines.
My third book by Liz Trenow - the first being "Under a Wartime Sky" (also published as "The Last Letter") and the second, the wonderful "Searching for my Daughter". I really enjoyed this tale. It was different and refreshing. But what I found most interesting was that recognition for those Bevin Boys didn't come for another seventy years after the war ended. Their service was not recognised, no merit given, no nothing. When they gave their time, and some of them their lives, to keep the fires burning that made the weapons and armaments that the soldiers used to fight with. Their service was just as important and yet it went unnoticed. Not so unnoticed had Lizzie not fronted up in Ed's place he'd be labeled a deserter and sent to prison. So if it was that important, why were they not recognised?
My only fault with it is there was no real outcome about Lizzie's medical except that she was awaiting the x-ray results. She received the letter but no mention of the results. And the other thing was what became of Ed in the epilogue? We see Lizzie and there is mention of Ed but not now. A few things just left a little unclear.
Overall, an enjoyable quick and easy read that will be sure to warm the hearts of its readers.
I would like to thank #LizTrenow, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheSecretSister in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
She lives in Colchester with her artist husband, and they have two grown up daughters and three grandchildren.
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