A Fond Farewell for the Tobacco Girls (The Tobacco Girls #6) by Lizzie Lane
Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas, WW2, Post-WW2
Read: 25th July 2023
Published: 28th July 2023
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
It has finally happened! The war is over and Europe rejoices.
May 1945 – VE Day
After battling against the odds, the three friends are uncertain of their futures.
Maisie Miles must wait on tenterhooks for Japan to surrender and for poor Sid to return home. Will they still be sweethearts and have a future together? But tragedy strikes when Maisie's lodger Carole dies leaving 2-year-old Paula orphaned, Maisie is determined to keep the child she has grown to love as her own.
Meanwhile Bridget O’Neill’s husband has been patiently waiting her arrival in America but Bridget’s been struggling to leave her family and friends behind. Will she stay or will she go?
Phyllis Fairbrother receives the devastating news that husband Mick has relapsed and suffering a life changing diagnosis. Their dreams of a new life in Australia lie in tatters, or so she thinks.
With a new dawn, there are high hopes and boundless dreams.
Can the Tobacco Girls unite once more to overcome life’s troubles and find the happiness they so deserve?
MY THOUGHTS;
All is fair in love and war...
I have followed this series from the beginning and I have loved accompanying the girls over the course of their respective journeys. This one is somewhat bittersweet in ending and in reviewing this final installment.
Bridget O'Neill, nee Milligan, prepares to join husband Lyndon in the United States to begin their lives together however she is finding leaving Bristol, her family and friends behind somewhat difficult. And so she takes on several crusades of her own to keep her firmly in Blighty for the time being. When she hears her father has a new lady friend, she is keen to stop by and check up on him ensuring he is well looked after as well as her younger siblings. But it's the plight of children as young as 3 being shipped to Australia with no promise of being adopted at the other end that keeps her here as she uses her influence and the O'Neill money to investigate further. Meanwhile, Lyndon is at first understanding knowing how difficult it must be for Bridget to leave the place she was born and grew up as well as her family and friends. But when the weeks turn into months and he still hasn't seen his growing son, he becomes impatient in wanting his wife and son home with him in the United States. Bridget's excuses are running out. Will she follow her husband and make her new home with him? Or will she stay in the place she's always called home?
Phyllis Fairbrother, nee Mason then Harvey, married Australian Mick on the ship bringing them back from Malta after an unexploded bomb ruined their wedding and saw Mick rushed off to hospital. Now they are back in England, and the injuries Mick sustained in that explosion see him back in hospital with no chance of returning to his homeland of Australia with Phyllis to set up home and a vineyard. Instead Phyllis must find a home for them close by for his regular appointments with the surgeon. So she decides to settle back in her home town of Bristol in one of the new prefab houses purposely built for returning servicemen and their families. A face from the past pulls a few strings to get them the new place but Mick is far from grateful for the shoebox when he could have had acres of land at his fingertips back home. But a chance encounter with a friendly neighbour and veteran from the first war helps Mick put things into perspective. Will he settle for England or will he continue to grumble for a dream that is out of reach?
Maisie Miles, the only one of the three M's who has not married, still works at the tobacco factory and lives in the house her grandmother bequeathed to her. Her sweetheart Sid was taken prisoner in the Far East and is currently a POW in Changi. She took in young Carole Thomas who found herself pregnant after being attacked by someone she thought she could trust and as a result didn't want the baby. Maisie, however, fought tooth and nail for Carole to keep the little baby even after she was tricked into an illegal adoption. Now Maisie has grown fond of the young girl who is now two and approaching her third birthday and has gotten used to her being around. But all that is about to change when Carole announces that she has gotten engaged to Joe Shaw though she has yet to tell him about little Paula. Maisie doesn't begrudge Carole some happiness but she doesn't want to lose Paula either. But with Joe coming from Liverpool that would be where they will settle. Until tragedy strikes leaving 2 year old Paula orphaned and Maisie is determined to keep the child as her own. But when Sid returns from the Far East, will he be willing to take on someone else's child?
There is so much packed into this final installment that I have barely touched on any of it. It is by far the best and it is with bittersweet emotions that I bid farewell to those I have come to love. The book opens with VE celebrations though was in the Pacific still rages on. When the announcement that the Japanese have surrendered spreads, the VJ celebrations begin.
Over the course of this series we have seen many characters come and go. Some likeable, some horribly vile. Some get their comeuppance while others await theirs. However while Eddie Bridgeman was one of those such characters, in this installment we see him redeem himself.
A fitting end to an enjoyable series, we now have the Coronation Close series to enjoy in its place.
I would like to thank #LizzieLane, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #AFondFarewellForTheTobaccoGirls in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Working jobs she's hated purely to keep a roof over her family’s head and a meal on the table, she then discovered writing. Encouraged by an American writer friend and when a time came there were no jobs and no other option, she took the plunge. She is now the author of over 50 books, a number of which have been bestsellers. As a Bristolian, many of her family worked in the cigarette and cigar factories, inspiring her new saga series The Tobacco Girls.
Up until six years ago her home (and that of her late husband) was a 46ft sailing yacht named Sarabande Serene, sailing into the Mediterranean. So besides being a successful author Lizzie can read navigation charts and react swiftly in a storm.
Lizzie is now landlocked in a town close to the city of Bath.
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