Book Review: Annie Murray: Chocolate Girls

Chocolate Girls

Author: Annie Murray

Title: Chocolate Girls

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Family Sagas, Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Family, Saga, Romance, Fiction, Historical, Contemporary,

I was given this book.

This book has 384 pages and 62 chapters

I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio. Even if you do not read books like this.

I highly recommend this book.

I normally read books of this genres but l also stepped outside my comfort zone with authors and genres l am so glad l did because l have read so many great books and come across some great authors.

Synopsis: When Edie marries young to escape her unhappy family home she thinks that life can only get better, at the age of nineteen, she is widowed, and after losing her child from the marriage she faces the second world was grieving and lonely, then one night during the Birmingham Blitz an infant, mysteriously abandoned during the bombing, is handed in to her care. Her lively friend Ruby, meanwhile, does not want to be left behind in the wedding stakes and settles for marriage with Frank, a man much changed by war, finally there is Janet, intelligent, kind-hearted and susceptible to male charm, who is hurt desperately by an affair with a marriage man, and who assumes she will never love again. David, the child who steal's Edie's heart as she brings him up through a time none of them will ever forget, is the center of all their lives, he leads Edie through struggle and heartache to a life and love she would never have dreamed of... A spellbinding saga of three very different women whose lives become entwined by war and their work at the Cadbury's chocolate factory in Bourneville – and their love for a child. Proudly sponsored by Cadbury. This book is full of upset, joy, fight and bombing but Edie looks after a little baby who is left in the middle of a bombing and she loses a husband at a young age. Then she losses a baby to her husband and sadly she will never have another chance to carry another baby. Edie raised David for years and when he was old enough he went looking for his father and finds out he was dumped in the middle of the street when bombs was going off and Edie saved him and looked after him ever since and raised him as her own baby.

Review: I found this book really easy to get in to and hard to put down once l started reading it l was sad to read that Edie lost her husband then her baby at a very young age. This book was really good but sad when Edie lost her husband at a young age then she miscarriage her baby. She has to faces the Birmingham Blitz alone without her husband and baby. She was given a baby that is mysteriously abandoned in the middle of the street when bombs are going off. Luckily the baby was found and handed in to safety. The baby was named David and Edie raised him as if he was her own baby and she loved him very much. I wondered what made David's birth family leave him in the middle of the street when there was a war going on. How can any parent leave their baby in danger I was just glad he was found safe. But he had the best upbringing his mother would have wished for and he is the child Edie dreamed of it is a dream come true for Edie. She loves David and she would never stop him looking for his father this is a very sad book but it has a very happy ending. I can not put in to words how great this book is l would tell people to read it for themselves to know how great it really is. This book is a most read and l am so glad it is on my book shelf.

About The Author: Annie Murray was born in 1960 in Berkshire, and studied English at oxford university. Her first job took her to Birmingham where she met her husband, John. They have four children. In 1992 she began writing her first Birmingham novel, Birmingham rose, which made the times bestseller list when it was published in 1995. She has written six subsequent novels including, most recently, the highly successful chocolate girls.

About The Book: this book comes with one then one book cover design and l like the picture on the front and the colours are not too bright or not too dull.

Star Rating: Five Out Of Five Stars

Book Review: Margaret Dickinson: Twisted Strands

Twisted Strands

Author: Margaret Dickinson

Title: Twisted Strands

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Family Sagas, Historical Romance, Historical Fiction,

I was given this book along with tangled threads.

Book Dedication: With great affection and deep admiration this book is dedicated to my uncle, Brian Copley, who enlisted in 1914 at the age of sixteen in the 8^th battalion Sherwood foresters, (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire regiment) and served throughout the war.

Thankfully, he survived the trenches to life a long and happy life and it has been a privilege to share his memories and experiences through his personal diaries of the time.

This book has 400 pages and 62 chapters in it.

I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio. Even if you do not read books like this.

I normally read books of this genre but l also stepped outside my comfort zone with authors and genres l am so glad l did because l have read so many great books and come across some great authors.

I highly recommend this book but l would tell people to read tangled threads first so you know the full story not just half.

Synopsis: It is 1914 and Eveleen Hardcastle, now in her early thirties, has married Richard. Her longing for children is the only shadow over the happiness, but the world war breaks out, Eveleen is left to manage the Nottingham Factory alone while Richard goes to fight for his country. Eveleen's mother, Mary, has found happiness at last in her marriage to Josh. Her granddaughter, Birdie, still lives at home and has a spirited, strong will which her grandmother finds hard to control. When Andrew, the love of her life, also enlists, Birdie finds consolation in a rewarding vocation. Nursing wounded soldiers sent home from the front, she gains a maturity beyond her years. But every day the casualty list from the hell of the trenches grows longer. Bridie nurses her grandfather on his death bed as her boyfriend is fighting the war, she became a nurse to help people and keeps in touch with her auntie Eveleen who husband is also fighting in the war and she loves her family.

Review: I found this really easy to get in to and hard to put down once l started reading it I was happy to be reading the follow on to tangled threads. I am glad that Eveleen moved on and got married. I was happy to read that Eveleen's mother found someone who loves her after her husband's tragic death and she is still raising her granddaughter. It is nice to read that Bridie gets to meet her grandfather and she nurses him on his death bed which is very sad to read but glad her grandfather was not on his own when he passed away. Bridie's uncle and boyfriend are both fighting the war. Leaving the women they love behind. Bridie also helps nurses soldiers who have been hurt on the front line and she must see loads of deaths when they can not save the soldiers and she watched her grandfather passed away to poor girl. I hope Eveleen's husband and Bridie's boyfriend comes back from the war alive and unhurt so Bridie and Eveleen do not lose any more people they love. I hope Eveleen's brother and Birdie's father is ok. I can not put in to words how great this book is l would tell people to read it for themselves to know how great it really is. This book is a must read l am glad it is on my book shelf with the first book in the series tangled threads.

About The Author: Margaret Dickinson was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Margaret Dickinson moved to the coast at the age of seven and so began her love for the sea and the Lincolnshire landscape. Her ambition to be a writer began early and she had her first novel published at the age of twenty-five. This was followed by a number of further titles including the clippie girls, fairfield hall and welcome home. Margaret is a Sunday times top ten bestseller.

About The Book: I love the book cover and l like that it comes in two different book cover designs and l love the colour and it is not too bright or not too dull.

Star Rating: Five Out Of Five Stars

 

Book Review: Jennifer Worth: Call The Midwife

Call The Midwife: A True Story Of The East End In The 1950s

Author: Jennifer Worth

Title: Call The Midwife

Genre: History, Cultural History, London, Biography, Historical, Social & Urban History, nonfiction, autobiography, memoir, biography memoir,

Where I Got This Book: I was given this book.

Book Dedication: This book is dedicated to Philip, my dear husband. The history of 'Mary' is also dedicated to the memory of father Joseph Williamson and Daphne Jones.

This book has 340 pages and 44 chapters in it.

I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio. Even if you do not read books like this,

I normally read books of this genre but l also stepped outside my comfort zone with authors and genres l am so glad l did because l have read so many great books and come across some great authors.

I highly recommend this book.

Synopsis: The brothels of cable street. The krays brothers and gang warfare, The meth drinkers in the bombsites – this was the world Jennifer worth entered when she become a midwife at the age of twenty-two. Babies were born in slum conditions often with no running water. Jennifer worth describes the romantic and beauty of the great port of London, The bug-infested tenements. The spectre of disease. The sense of community and the incredible of women who bore more then ten children. Funny, disturbing and moving. Call the midwife brings to life a world that has now changed beyond measure. Nonnatus house was situated in the heart of the London  dock-lands. The practice covered stepney, lime house, mill wall, the isle of dogs, cubit town, poplar, bow, mile end and whitechapel. The area was densely populated and most families had lived there for generations, often not moving more than a street or two away from their birthplace. Family life was lived at close quarters and children were brought up be a widely extended family of aunts, grandparents, cousins and older siblings, all living within a few houses, or at the most, streets of each other. Children would run in and out of each other's homes all the time and when l lived and worked there, l can not remember a door being locked, except at night. Children were everywhere, and the streets were their play-grounds. In the 1950's there were no cars in the back streets, because no one had a car, so it was perfectly safe to play there. There was heavy industrial traffic on the main roads, particularly those leading to and from the dorks, but the little streets were traffic-free. The bomb sites were the adventure playgrounds. They were numerous, a terrible reminder of the war and the intense bombing of the docklands only ten years before. Great chunks had been cut out the terraces, each encompassing perhaps two or three streets. The area would be roughly boarded off, partly hiding wasteland of rubble with bits of building half standing, half fallen. Perhaps notice stating danger – keep out would be nailed up somewhere, but this was like a red rag to a bull to any lively lad over the age of about six of seven, and every bomb site had a secret entries where the boarding was carefully removed, allowing a small body to squeeze through. Officially no on was allowed in, but everyone, including the police, seemed to turn a blind eye. It was undoubtedly a rough area. Knifing was common, Street fight was common and if a young girl did become pregnant the pressure on the young man to marry her was so great that few resisted.

Review: I found this book really easy to get In to and hard to put down once l started to read it. I was hooked on this book after reading the first page l can not wait to read the other books in this series. I am glad this book was made in to a TV series and I have watched the series over and over again and l could happily read this book again and again. I loved reading this book and reading about how it was in the 1950's and how the people survived in them days and who helped women bring their babies in to the world some women bore about ten or more babies because there was no birthcontrol in them days and if you aborted a baby you could end up in prison. The midwives also helped when people was injured or they had bedsores or they had preeclampsia and eclampsia and they catch it too late and the mother and baby sadly passed away and the nuns sometimes attend births and deaths to help the midwife. I am hoping they put call the midwife on at christmas again. I am glad l got all the call the midwife books l am glad l can read all the books one after another. I love reading about olden days and how things have changed over the years. I am sad that when a baby passes away they share coffins with adults who have passed away if the families can not afford a coffin of their own. It was so hard to read that mother and their children would go in to the workhouse when their husband left them or passed away and sometimes none of the children made it out alive and the workhouse inmates was buried all together in unmarked graves.

About The Author: Worth, born Jennifer lee while her parents were on holiday in clacton-on-sea, Essex, was raised in amersham, buckinghamshire. After leaving school at the age of 14, she learned shorthand and typing and became the secretary to the head of Dr Challoner's grammar school. She then trained as a nurse at the royal Berkshire hospital, reading, and moved to London to receive training to become a midwife. Lee was hired as a staff nurse at the London hospital in whitechapel in the early 1950's. With the sisters of st London college of music. Where she taught piano and singing. She obtained a fellowship in 1984. She performed as a soloist and with choirs throughout worth reflects on her later experiences caring for the terminally ill. Worth was highly critical of mike Leigh's   2004 film Vera drake, for depicting the consequences of illegal abortions unrealistically. She argued that the method shown in the movie, far from being fairly quick and painless, was in fact almost invariably fatal to the mother. Worth died on 31 may 2011, having been diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus earlier in the year. Jennifer worth is a great writer l have her other books and sadly she has passed away now which l was sad to read.

About the book: l Like that the cover is really nice and not too bright and l love the font.

Star Rating: 5 Out Of 5 Stars

I wish l could rate this book more than five stars because it is worth more then the five stars l rated it.