The Poppy Girls

The Maitland Trilogy #1

by Margaret Dickinson

"The Poppy Girls is the first title in The Maitland Trilogy, by bestselling author Margaret Dickinson.

Even amidst the horror of the trenches, love will find a way

Thwarted in her desire to become a doctor like her brother, Robert, Pips Maitland rebels against her mother’s wishes that she settle down and raise children. However, when Robert brings home a friend from medical school, Giles Kendall, it seems perhaps Pips might fall in love with an acceptable suitor after all. But the year is 1914 and the future is uncertain. Hearing that her father’s friend, Dr John Hazelwood, is forming a flying ambulance corps to take to the front lines, Pips is determined to become one of its nurses and asks Alice Dawson, her maid, to go with her. Robert and Giles offer their services as doctors, and Alice’s brother William joins them as a stretcher bearer.

Nothing could have prepared them for the horrific sights they encounter. Moving their unit close to the fighting to offer first aid as quickly as possible puts them all in constant danger. But even amidst the barrage of shelling and gunfire, the unending stream of injured being brought to their post, the love between Pips and Giles survives and blossoms just like the poppies of Flanders fields."

Genres: Historical Fiction, Audiobook

509 pages, Hardcover

Published January 11, 2018

About the author

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 many further titles including Plough the Furrow, Sow the Seed and Reap the Harvest, which make up her Lincolnshire Fleethaven Trilogy. She is also the author of Fairfield Hall, Jenny's War and The Clippie Girls. Margaret is a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller.

Reviews

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've dithered over a three or four star rating for this book and so have gone with my first reaction.
It's a very good read. There are lots of descriptions of battles and life in the trenches and the medical attention the soldiers received which is a part of it I really enjoyed.
However, it's the characters themselves I felt a bit let down by. I think we could have had a bit more about each of them. I felt it hard to get to know them. Philipa, or Pips as she was called, was just too good to be true for me. She could do everything and anything with expertise. Everyone, but everyone, loved her and thought she was wonderful, even the German soldiers in the enemy trenches. When something momentous happened to her in her relationship it was sorted in a page or two and then she just carried on. She irked me.
It just seemed to lack something, I can't put my finger on what but other readers loved it so maybe I'm just being picky.
William was my favorite character and I would have liked to have known more of his inner feelings and thoughts. He had a very tough time.
Still, anyone who loves stories set in WWI will enjoy it.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story centres mainly around two families, the Maitlands and the Dawsons.
In the small village of Doddington with its magnificent Elizabethan mansion and its great grounds of parks and farmlands is the Maitland family home.

Len Dawson and his sons with the exception of William run the town's carpentry, blacksmith, undertaker and wheelwright businesses. William is employed at the Hall as a handyman, gardener and in charge of maintaining Dr Edwin's car as well as fixing any farm machinery.

The 1914 War is imminent and the family of Dr Edwin Maitland, Henrietta, Robert and Pip are on tenterhooks regarding what their involvement will be. Robert has just finished training as a GP and intentions were that he would take over his father's practice. However on receiving a letter from an old friend of Edwins, Dr Hazlewood writes that he intends to organise his own independent volunteer flying field ambulance corps for the front line, (these were mobile front-line medical units for treating the wounded before they were transferred to a Casualty Clearing Station [CCS]).

Much to her mother's dismay Pip, a feisty and capable young woman is determined to be involved and so along with Alice her maid, at Henrietta's insistence they both attend First Aid training.

The difficulty of young men who didn't want to fight and their treatment of their family and their environment is starkly brought to light when William makes his decision not to enlist declaring that he could not kill another man. This is accepted by the Maitlands; his own family rejects him. His father disowns him as well as his brothers who are in the end killed in the war. William, though offers to be part of the volunteer flying ambulance and his bravery in France comes to light for all to see but this doesn't change his father's decision.

The read is then mostly centred around various sites of WW1, Ypres, Mons, Menin and other towns in the middle of the heavy fighting with Pip, Alice, Robert, other volunteers and Giles, a surgeon who becomes a love interest of Pip's operating the ambulance shuttle service and attending to the wounded.

The book does become bogged down with a repeat of the same conditions in different locations, the wounded, the bombing, the advances, the retreats and the continuous rain, (this is well documented by historians, the appalling conditions of the weather and knee deep mud) and the German gas attacks, the bravery and the deaths.

The one element that a reader might find poignant is the remark made by Pip, that amongst all the noise and carnage the Larks sing above it all which brings to mind the wonderful music by British composer, Vaughan Williams "The Lark Ascending" written in 1914 in the early days of WW1.

Robert is badly wounded, losing his right arm and on his insistence Pip travels back with him to England. On her return to France she discovers Giles has had an affair with another woman, consequently this ends their relationship.

WW1 brings many changes to English Society, returning from the war front Alice, former maid and Robert marry, a difficult acceptance for his mother whose heritage from the upper classes and who inherited Doddington Hall, her son marrying a maid!

[mois reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poppy girls

Had this book ages can't believe I've waited this long to read it all the research that has gone into this book is amazing well worth 5 stars .

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these kinds of books. They are my ultimate guilty pleasure! Laced with wartime spirit, community and one girls drive to do her bit for the war effort! It was a great book built on the foundations of a head strong girl who was determined to break free of the stereotypes of being a woman of the age, breaking boundaries and offering her services to the Flying Ambulance Corps to help on the front line.

I loved the wild tenacity and strength of the main character and just loved the feel of the book. It was a book I returned to again and again and it always held my attention and never found a boring chapter within it. I really must get the second book now to find how what further became of the Maitland family ...!

[Pat Langhelt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by this author look forward to part two

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's 1914 and Pips and Robert Maitland are all set to go to war to help with Dr. Hazelwood's flying ambulance corps.
Though Henrietta Matiland is keen to see the wild cat Pips settle down with a nice husband.
Thwarted of becoming a doctor she is determined her mother won't stop her this time.
Landing in Belgium Pips, Robert and a local boy William see up close the true cost and horrific nature of the "War to end all wars."
In such a charged atmosphere friendships and romances start and then blossom but when the terror of fighting for survival every da pay is finally over which of these relationships will survive?
More to the point WHO will survive?
This was a poignant picture of war told from many angles, the aristocracy, local villagers, doctors, nurses, those branded cowards and those hailed as heroes.
A touching story with an enduring message of the futility of war and the cost of human life.

[Helen White · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first in a new series featuring the Maitland’s, The Poppy Girls follows Philippa ‘Pips’ Maitland and her brother Robert as they embark on a journey to the Front Line to serve in the flying ambulance corps. Facing death and injury on a daily basis, the pair form part of a tight knit flagship team, treating British soldiers during World War One.

The Poppy Girls is the first novel by Margaret Dickinson that I read - but it certainly won’t be the last. The story focuses mostly on Pips’ experience on the Front Line, and is pacy and harrowing. As I read Dickinson’s words I couldn’t help but think of the young men who blindly went into battle - many of whom never returned to their families again. I could not put this book down!

[Heather Copping · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would have given this book more than five stars if I could have. It drew me in from the beginning of the story and held my attention to the last page. It's the first in the series of the Maitland trilogy and I hope the rest are as good a read. This book is centered on the first world war and the Maitland family who live in the big house in Lincolnshire. Pips or Phillipa is the daughter of the family and she has always wanted to do more, be like her older brother and especially do nursing and her big opportunity came when she volunteered to do nursing on the front line. In my own family my grandad lost his brothers in the battles of ww1 and reading this it makes you realise what a sacrifice they made for us today. A great family saga, read it you won't be disappointed.

[Sharon]

Margaret writes historical fact into her stories which is what I love about this author. Her characters in this story are true heros. I cried in many parts of this book. A love story and station in life during world war one had no dividing lines. Margaret takes you right on the battlefield and the horrors of war and the senseless loss of life many still children. Cannot wait to read the follow up The Buffer Girls.

[Booklover BEV · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the story of Pips Maitland and her maid Alice Dawson (the poppy girls). its 1914 wartime and both girls are sent to the front with Dr John Hazelwood pips brother Robert and fellow doctor Giles Kendall. horrific times looking after the casualties were done by all. i truly loved this book from the start, and all the characters that are entered in as the story starts to fold, lots of worried families back home, this is a story of true friendship, love, and determination nursing and mending back all the wounded. this story is remarkable a good read and the author is spot on throughout the book. this is leaving me so looking forward to the next instalment the Brookland girls bringing pips maitland back into our hearts.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saga writer extraordinaire Margaret Dickinson is back with a powerful, poignant and heart-wrenching read set during the First World War that will hold readers in thrall from start to finish. A story of love, friendship and courage, The Poppy Girls is a captivating tale from one of the best writers in the business.

As the daughter of the local doctor, Miss Pips Maitland knows that she causes her parents no end of worry and grief by behaving in a way that does not befit a gentleman’s daughter. Rather than drinking tea in the drawing room with her mother, the incorrigible Miss Pips loves to hare around the Lincolnshire countryside on her brother’s motorcycle and getting up to all sorts of mischief – much to her parents’ distress, who would much rather she settle down and make a suitable match. Having always yearned to follow in her father and her brother’s footsteps and go to university to become a doctor, Pips cannot help but wonder what the future holds for her. When war is declared, Pips vows to do her bit for king and country and when she hears that her father’s friend, Dr John Hazelwood, is forming a flying ambulance corps to take to the front line, Pips realises she has found her calling. Persuading her maid, Alice Dawson to come along with her, Pips sets off to Flanders, however, nothing could prepare her or Alice and her brother William, who joined them as a stretcher bearer, for the horrific sights and heartbreaking misery which they were to encounter.

Despite of all the anguish and tragedy that surrounds her, Pips refuses to be deterred. With her brother and his friend from medical school, Giles Kendall, joining the flying ambulance corps, a determined Pips vows to do her utmost for the men in her care even when that seems impossible. With danger haunting her every move, Pips finds resolves of strength which she never knew she possessed. However, amidst all the conflict, despair and hardship, love and friendship blossom in this most unlikely of settings. As Pips and Alice go from mistress and servant to colleagues and equals, the two girls begin to rely on each other and trust one another even more than before, but will Alice ever manage to confess to Pips the secret which she has harboured for so long?

Pips, on the other hand, is finding herself increasingly drawn to Giles Kendall. With his good looks, standing in society and heroic conduct on the front line, Pips cannot help but wonder whether Giles is the man for her. But is Giles all that he seems? Or is he the last man she should trust with her heart?

With the war raging on, will Pips and Alice manage to get out of Flanders alive? Or will this terrible conflict put paid to all of their hopes and dreams for the future?

An outstanding historical saga full of drama, emotion and exquisitely rendered period detail, The Poppy Girls is an absolute triumph for Margaret Dickinson. A writer who is at the height of her storytelling powers, The Poppy Girls brings to vivid life the First World War with style, finesse and sophistication. Margaret Dickinson makes her readers feel every emotion which her wonderfully drawn characters go through and they can almost hear the bombs falling, feel the mud in the trenches and screams renting the air as they find themselves completely and utterly mesmerized by this spellbinding tale.

An engaging, enthralling and enjoyable historical saga from one of the queens of the genre, The Poppy Girls is another first-rate tale from Margaret Dickinson’s immensely talented pen.

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The year is 1914 and,with the onset of war,the future is uncertain.Pips Maitland is adamant about resisting her mother's wishes that she settle down with a suitable husband and raise children.Hearing that her father's friend,Dr John Hazelwood,is forming a flying ambulance corps to take to the Front when war is declared,Pips is determined to become one of its nurses and asks Alice Dawson,her lady's maid,to accompany her.Her brother,Robert,and fellow doctor,Giles Kendall,also agree to join.Nothing could have prepared them for the horrific sights they encounter.Moving their unit close to the fighting to offer first aid to the casualties as quickly as possible puts them all in constant danger.But even amidst the sounds of shelling and gunfire,and the long exhausting hours of tending the wounded and dying,love and friendships blossom-just like the poppies on the Flanders fields.But will the home fires still burn,and can the relationships forged in such times survive one of the worst wars the world has ever seen...?During WWI, aviation moved from experimentation to a powerful military force, and following the war, with a surplus of aircraft in circulation, new uses were found for the aircraft. This included the conversion of planes throughout the world into ambulance planes.Air evacuation was experimented with in 1917-1918.A stretcher-bearer is a person who carries a stretcher, generally with another person at its other end, especially in a war or emergency times when there is a very serious accident or a disaster.In case of military personnel, for example removing wounded or dead from a battlefield, the modern term is combat medic who will have received considerable training. Stretcher-bearers would have received basic first-aid training. The wounded soldier had to wait until the stretcher-bearers arrived or simply the stretcher-bearers will find them.In the army stretcher-bearers were a kind of specific soldiers who work with military ambulances and medical services.

[Katie Cat Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing. World war I. Historical fiction.

Story: In 1914 England, Pips Maitland is a spunky young woman who would prefer to be riding motorcycles and going to university to study to become a doctor rather than settle down and be a housewife and mother. Instead it's her brother who is studying at university and riding motorcycles and following in his father's footsteps to someday take over the physicians practice and inherit the great estate where they all live. With talk of war around the corner though, no one can predict what will happen and who will go.

Chsracters: Pips is headstrong and ambitious. Robert her brother is upstanding and responsible. Their parents own and run a great estate and contribute to the town as physician and in voluntary and charity work. On the other side of town, Ma Dawson is one of the oldest women of the whole village and lives with her son Len and wife Norah and their 4 boys and 1 girl, two of which work over at the Maitland's.

Language: Though this book was published in 2018, it reads like it was written in the 30's, similar in tone and atmosphere to books written at that time. Refreshingly light, but unpredictable in plot, the events, decisions made and attitudes are believable and uplifting and full of positivity and hope. Told in third person from various perspectives, the story flows smoothly from land to land, person to person. Far from happily ever after, the book tells of realities of war and consequences of decisions, and yet the characters and families must continue on and come to terms with the new ways of life during wartime.

Truly refreshing, I can't wait to read more of this style book and author.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up.

She’s captured the English rural estate environment of haves and have nots in the 19 teens, as befits a family saga. We experience some of the ridiculousness of the Great War, though the sing song (dare I say naive girlish) narrator completely loses the seriousness and reality and ugliness.

The theme’s of refusing to fight, village mates banded together in the same regiment and chemical warfare play out regularly, along with the apparent camaraderie of opposing sides in nomansland. Battles at Ypres, poppies snd unknown soldiers complete the boxed WWI set.

The key characters are flat, with little personal growth or development. Pip starts out as a feisty female unafraid to speak her mind, she does what she wants, without so much as a huff and puff from her parents or brothers (Surely they can’t all be so weak as to not even try to dissuade her?) and that’s how she remains throughout. She never cries or shows much sorrow or sadness or horror. We see glimpses of the how the class barriers begin to crash.
Romance vs war vs family saga.

And then there’s the storyline. After the initial scenes talking about the period leading up to the war, there’s a lot of same sameness that unfortunately goes on, for more than 400 pages, in a lilting happy kind of way, until it wasn’t.

Birth and Death.
The end, open for a sequel, or two.

“… being aloof is his way of coping.”
“She kissed him soundly.”
“We will win in the end.”
“Now I’m angry, and that will carry me through.”

[Shirley Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is not often that fictional books of this genre devotes so much of the story on the happenings at the front. Whether the author's writings are historically accurate I really couldn't say but it made a good story anyway. Margaret Dickinson really brings home the danger that the volunteers put themselves in and the sacrifice of thousands of brave men who faced the enemy and were either injured or lost their lives on the battlefields. More appropriately, at least in this instance, the bravery and dedication of the medical volunteers who risked their own lives to save others. This came across so strongly and I felt nothing but admiration for them as I read. They were all heroes.

Apart from the writings at the front, the story is basically set around two families in a small village and how the war affected them and how they supported the soldiers in the most ingenious ways.

A wonderful story and beautifully written, however, I was really disappointed how it ended. I believe there is a sequel but it didn't need to end so abruptly. Nevertheless, it deserved five stars.

[Layla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. great story line cant wait for the others in the series. THIS BOOK IS BASED AROUND 2 FAMILYS, THE MAITLAND FAMILY AND THE DAWSON FAMILY:

1914: Pip Maitland doesn't want to raise a family just yet... she wants a life before she does this but her mother wants her to settle down and have children, Pip decides she wants some kind of job and not in a factory like other workers in 1914. she wants to be Doctor, like her Brother and father.... but is this really a womans job in a time of the first world war? Her fathers friend has an idea to start up a ambulance corps to be sent to the front in WW1. Pips is told this isn't for her or is it.... so she writes a letter and receives a reply.. will she go to the front as a Nurse in the horrors of WW1? with very little training her and her ladies maid Alice enrole..... for a nurses place on a vedry limited time training experience...........

what will happen will they survive the WW1 horrors that they both see....


a great page turner keeps you reading as you want to know what happens to both familys....

Looking forward to the other books in this series. 5 stars.... a wonderful read. Brilliant research on these set of books from Margaret Dickinson.

[Sarah Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story, did take me a while to get into the storyline.

This is a story of the Maitland family at the start of World War 1, Pips and Robert want to help which is easy for Robert as he is a newly qualified doctor, Pips wants to do something worth while but her mum stopped her training for anything as she was expected to get married and have kids. So when they get the chance to volunteer for an emergency first aid corps they jump at the chance to go and also take other local people with them. This is a good story but it did take awhile to get into the story

[Anil Dhingra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A historical fiction based in the setting of the first world war. Pippy Maitland and her brother Robert leave their home to join a mobile ambulance Corp to look after the war casualties.
The book describes the progress of the war from 2014 to 18 , the role of the medicos in looking after and evacuation of the injured soldiers. Love and relationships bloom in the field.
A well written flowing narrative.

[Lesley Puncher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Margaret Dickinson's work, this book was a well written storyline with a different take on the First World War. For me it lost one star because I felt that the descriptions of the wounds the soldiers received were at times too graphic. I was listening on Audiobook and would sometimes skip 30 seconds to avoid this. I wanted to finish the story but it seemed to end in a rush. As the first in a trilogy I will give the next book a go because it's set in the 1920's .

[Debs]

Pip would’ve been my best friend! I loved the Alice-Robert pairing, and Len made me want to give him a well-deserved beating. Boy Dawson – you had it coming, I’m afraid :/ I’m so glad William found a more worthy home to settle in, at the end. I wish the Dawson women had learned to stand up to Len more! Pip would’ve set him straight :P The George-Pip pairing really made me think about the social institution of marriage...

[Trudie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Maitland trilogy which begins at the start of the first world war and follows the lives of Pip and Robert Maitland who go over to France to help in the first aid stations. Like all of Margaret's books I really enjoyed this and have started book 2 to find out what happens next.

[Tony Peck · Rating 3 out of 5]

An absorbing read with interesting characters. A recognizable story set in WW1, with a good telling of this distressing time and highlights the challenges and changes that occurred. The writing at times could have done with a more thorough edit, with some phrases repeated several times. Overall though an enjoyable story.

[Pat Fairbairn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable

I must admit this is the first book i have read by Margaret but i am now a big fan, the story was so well written that i was really in love with the characters, Pips and Robert were brilliant and i just couldn’t wait to see how they and their team got on during their time on the front line. Brilliant book, now starting the follow up book

[Deborah Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable story the first of 3 books about 2 families whose lives are impacted by the First World War. Although it’s an obviously set in the most terrible of wars ever known for loss and battle this book carries a pleasant insight to how folk got through I enjoyed it for its less heavy perspective and will read the 2nd instalment

[rob muir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

Well another great read by Margaret Dickinson.
There was nothing I didn't enjoy in this story. Only trouble was I forced myself to stop reading in in bed, otherwise I would have read it all in one go. Looking forwards to book no2 in the series

[Jayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book but like a previous comment Pips to good to be true. However gives a good account of the war and the classic stories of heart warming moments such as both sides playing football in no mans land.

[Kay Nesbitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favourite of Margaret Dickinson's books, seems to follow the storyline of many of 1st world war books but it was quite descriptive of the battle grounds. Hopefully in Volume 2 we might learn of what happened to William and if the family reconciled.

[josephine Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very deep story.

This was a very serious book but the storyline had a great deal of meaning. I would have liked William to have been honoured as a slap in the face for his father.

[Margaret P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to the next book in the series to see what happens next! A great story with plenty of facts of what happened in the first world war. Especially interesting to me as my grandfather was in the medical corps in France during the conflict

[Darren Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

I couldn't stop reading this book. Full of history and almost like you were there with the characters. Would recommend to anyone who is interested in history. They would get the feel of what it was actually like