A New Home in the Dales (Made in Yorkshire #1) by Betty Firth
Genre: Historical fiction, Wartime fiction, Sagas, WW2
Read: 1st August 2023
Published: 2nd March 2023
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
To follow her dream, she’s gone from city to village – but can she ever fit in?
October 1940. Bobby Bancroft is working as a typist for a city newspaper, but she longs to be breaking the news herself. She is thrilled to secure a junior reporter role at The Tyke, a magazine serving the Yorkshire Dales.
However, when Bobby moves to Silverdale, she discovers rural life is a different world. The close-knit villagers and cantankerous local animals prove difficult to win over, while mischievous vet Charlie seems determined to lead her astray.
As Bobby struggles to find her place amongst the dalesfolk, she wonders if she’s made a huge mistake. Will the city girl ever make a home of the beautiful but hostile countryside of the Dales?
An uplifting, lively World War Two rural saga that fans of Annie Murray, Rosie Hendry, Gervase Phinn and James Herriot will love.
MY THOUGHTS:
She's gone from city to village...but can she ever fit in?
I wasn't going to start another series (I have far too many on the go as it is) but this is a delightfully easy read with a gentle pace and some laugh out loud moments. I like how the main focus is not of the war and everyone "doing their bit" for the war effort etc. but rather more of life at home despite all that is going on in Europe. In a somewhat different vein, the focus is that of a junior reporter in a small village publication.
We meet Bobby Bancroft, a typist at the Bradford Courier, as she composes articles one of her colleagues doesn't seem worthy of his time or effort. She receives no recognition and yet she doesn't mind because she knows it's her work. For it is her dream to become a journalist, to write for the big papers or any paper really, but it's still largely a man's world and she is unable to get employment in her dream job.
Until Reg Atherton walks into their offices one day to speak to her boss, being an old army pal from the first war. He has a special request of his old friend - he needs to find a junior reporter fast because all the other men are joining up to fight for King and country leaving him without a reporter. So when Bobby's boss drops the ad in hastily written script on her desk for her to type up, she knew her silent prayers had been answered.
The publication is a farming magazine of sorts called The Tyke with Reggie Atherton as its editor. Bobby applies for the position and is shocked to discover she is successful! The problem is the job is in Silverdale, some miles away in the dales, and she must leave her twin sister Lilian, brother Jake and her father who is still haunted by the things he saw in the first war.
The position comes with full board and lodging, and it would want to for the pittance that Reggie is paying her, but Bobby doesn't care. She is finally doing what she has only dreamed of doing. She leaves her home in Bradford and lodges with Reggie and his wife Mary at Moorside Farm, where the magazine is also produced. Bobby knows she has to prove herself as worthy of the job as well as winning over the locals who are still largely stuck in the 19th century and don't take kindly to womenfolk poking their nose into what they deem is men's business. But Bobby has an ally in brother Charlie Atherton, the local vet, who lives in a cottage on the farm.
When she first arrives raring to go, little does she know that Reggie has little intention of setting her loose to find stories to report and the community is less than welcoming. However, over time Bobby proves her worth and the village begin to accept her. It isn't long before Bobby really comes into her own and finds her footing withing the community and becomes a fixture. Then when Reggie sends Bobby out to interview octogenarian Andy Jessop at Newby Top, the story he shares is an eye opener and becomes something of a turning point for Bobby.
Then just as she has finally found her place, circumstances have her moving back to Bradford and into a reporter's position at her former newspaper the Bradford Courier. But her time in the dales has changed her...and now Bobby must decide what she truly wants out of life.
A delightfully easy read, I enjoyed my time in Silverdale and with Bobby and Reggie. I could almost taste Mary's cooking. Some of the characters are a little quirky but they certainly add to the story. There is certainly a James Herriot feel about this so fans of his stories will be at home here, especially since it's too in Yorkshire.
I would like to thank #BettyFirth, #Netgalley and #HeraBooks for an ARC of #ANewHomeInTheDales in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Betty also writes romance under her own name of Mary Jayne Baker, funny, heartfelt contemporary women’s fiction as Lisa Swift, uplifting wartime sagas as Betty Firth and Gracie Taylor, and cosy mysteries as Penny Blackwell.
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