A Girl Can Dream

by Anne Bennett

A dramatic and emotional story of one woman’s story to keep her family together. For fans of Dilly Court and Kitty Neale.

When Meg’s mother dies in childbirth, she is determined to keep the promise made on her mother’s deathbed – keep the family together. But her father has descended into drink and resents the baby, Ruth, who he believes cost him his wife.

Though struggling financially, Meg resists the offer of help from their unscrupulous and sinister landlord, Richard Flatterly. Things get worse when her father returns home one night with a woman called Doris and announces he intends to marry her. When war breaks out three of the children are evacuated to the country while little Ruth must stay with Meg’s father and his new wife as she is too young.

Meg and her friend Joy sign up for the Land Army and go to work on the farm where she meets Stephen, home on leave after fighting the Nazi’s – the attraction is instant and she and Stephen fall in love. But when she returns to the family home for a visit, she is horrified to discover the house in squalor and that worst of all, Little Ruth has been sent to an orphanage. With no options, Meg must turn to the only man who can help her, Richard Flatterly, but in return for his help, she must pay a very high price…

449 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 22, 2014

Reviews

[Dalila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice palate cleanser book. The story felt like it dragged a little, then it wrapped up super fast in the last 100 pages 🤣

[Dora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly I have to agree with the reviewer who said the book was full of typographical or grammatical errors. That did irritate me and I found myself correcting them all!

I read this during lockdown and it started off quite well. However in the last two chapters I found myself saying “as if” as all the loose ends seemed to be hurriedly tied up which I won’t give away as I might spoil it for others. It was just crazy the speed everything happened and also highly unlikely.

[Emma Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be at times heart wrenching yet also full of hope. It's about a young girl who after her mother's death takes on the responsibility to keep the family together. A couple of years later the father takes on a new wife but she has no heart or time for the children. War is declared which brings hope to Meg the eldest daughter as she becomes a Land Girl. I found she was much better off without her father yet she never stopped loving and thinking of her siblings throughout her life on the farm. She did what she had to as her stepmother was no good to her nor the family. I'm glad she was able to make a life for herself despite the hardship. It's a situation some families go through. Not that this book is a true story but this book personally spoke to me as if it were true

[Nicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliant book! I thoroughly enjoyed it. A heart breaking story about a family from Birmingham, beginning before ww2. It takes you on a roller coaster of emotions from sadness to laughter, back to sadness, more laughter, even a few tears. It is really well written and it kept me hooked to find out what happens!!

Anne is a new author to me, but I'm pleased to see she has written many other books which I will be seekinv out to read. Highly recommend this book

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good enough read. However, I thought there was opportunity to further develop some of the characters. Several come across as very naive without sufficient depth. Additionally, I was hoping for more on the land army girls, again this felt like a missed opportunity. Overall, worth checking out but would not put top of the pack.

[Katie Hatherley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief synopsis: When Meg's mother dies in childbirth, she is determined to keep the promise made on her mother's deathbed – keep the family together.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a WW2 fiction as they used to be all I read so I have had a bit of a break! This is one of the books included in my box of mystery books one for each month of the year …. And I have to say I enjoyed it soo much and couldn’t put it down once I started. I slotted straight back into the WW2 genre and enjoyed every minute of it and will not be so reluctant to pick up another and get stuck into it!

Things I liked: Meg! I loved her strength and way of thinking g even though most of the time she was completely broken on the inside

Megs siblings .. I loved each of their personalities and their binds with one another

The farmers!! Ahh I love them! Want to go live and work with them myself!

I enjoyed the information if different things that were happening with the war and how the rations started and what was rationed first!

Joy! I enjoyed her sense of humour! And just her in general tbh!

Megs extended family like auntie Rosie cousin Nicholas uncle Robert etc!

Things I didn’t like:

Megs dad! Bit of a waste of space

Doris! Did not like her! Not even one bit right from the she was introduced!

Megs landlord! Dirty slime bag!!

At the end it felt like the story was very rushed to tie up loose ends

If you enjoy world war 2 fiction or you’ve never read it before give this one a go! It’s very interesting and fair but of drama and a very enjoyable read!

I give this one 4⭐️ purely because for me if felt a bit rushed at the end! But I still standby that it is a very enjoyable read.

[Annamarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't sure about this going into it as I don't like historical or books about the war but this was more focused on the family aspect and Meg working on the farm doing her part for the war time efforts, there was a few bits about the war and stuff but not enough to take away from the story. Around the middle of the book I did start to get bored and I just wanted it to be over and I was tempted to just skip to the final chapter to see if Meg got her siblings back but I continued through it but I cannot in all good faith give this more than 3 stars and that's me being very generous as I was originally going to give it 2 stars.

My main issue with this book (and I think others have said this too) was how badly written or edited it is, repeated words, full stops in the middle of a sentence as well as random capital letters etc.

[Stephii-Dawne Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a beautiful story, and really tugs on the heartstrings. So many times I was brought to tears! I can relate to Meg, the main character, on so many levels, and there's so many twists and turns in this book! It's been beautifully researched, has a few spellings mistakes, but the story makes up for that. I can't wait to read more work by Anne now!

[Preethika P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before her mother died in childbirth, Meg made her a solemn promise to keep the family together. But, grief-stricken, their father is driven to drink and seems incapable of caring for his children. How she overcame the obstacles and moved on is the story. It was well written heart wrenching story ♥️

[Marnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a little whilst to finish due to the story dragging slightly but it was a good read nonetheless, filled with hope and also sadness at times. We are reminded by Meg to stand in our confidence and carry on through hard times! As the author says it was written also to shed light on the land workers during the war.

[Talía · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is my first book read in english and i am very happy for have finished it.

[Patricia Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, loved the characters

[Kirsty McNealis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a lovely book to read

[Susan Hone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book lovely story

[Judith Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book which is easy to pick up , and then find it hard to put down. Anne is a wonderful storyteller, and love her books set in Birmingham, the places bring back memories of when I lived there.
You can't help but fall in love with Meg who has promised her mum on her dying death bed, that she will look after all her family. Poor Meg is only 16, and is wonderful to her baby sister who survived when her mum died from childbirth. War is approaching, and her world is torn apart when her father falls for another woman who is only interested in herself, and then circumstances tear her family apart.
I can't wait to read more of Anne's novels, this was the first one I have read of hers, and I wasn't disappointed!

[Annie Burrows · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. Meticulously researched (as ever!) the story follows a young girls growth to adulthood during the lead-up to the second World War, her work in the land army, and her family's experience of having the younger children evacuated. If you are looking for a Birmingham-set saga, this one will really hit the spot.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good enough book and an enjoyable read with interesting characters if not rather predictable.
Only drawback for me was the innocence of it and I know that back then young people were much more innocent and naive when it came to relationships but at times these pair just went beyond ridiculousness and it was kinda pathetic. Nobody is that wet behind the ears!

[Booklover BEV · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a fantastic read again by anne was gripped from beginning to end and shed a few tears along the way anne never dissa points me in any of her books old and new all her book are written beautifully

[Tracy Wainwright · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

[Dawn Froese]

Enjoyed it.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this nice easy romance. Just realised read this a few years ago

[Roslin Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good read