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Wartime Midwives #2
Home Fires and Spitfires
It's September 1940 and as bombs fall across the country Britain faces its darkest hour yet.
Tucked on the edge of the Lake District lies Mary Vale, a Mother and Baby Home open to unmarried women and their children. But this sanctuary faces its own battles as three new women walk through its doors.
Tucked on the edge of the Lake District lies Mary Vale, a Mother and Baby Home open to unmarried women and their children. But this sanctuary faces its own battles as three new women walk through its doors.
From shipyard worker Gracie, to code-breaker Diana and German immigrant, Iris, these girls will leave Mary Vale very different to when they arrived and, like their country, will never be the same again.
But can these girls put their differences aside to fight a common foe?
- GenresHistorical Fiction
397 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 20, 2020
83 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 20, 2021
This was such a heart warming, feel good fantastic read. I absolutely loved the first book in this series and was equally as delighted with the second. It was great catching up with Ada and the other sisters at Mary Vale, with a whole new league of women and their babies to get to know.
The characters we got to love from the first book got to develop some more of their lives and stories and it was great getting to read what they were up to. The book really embodied the strength and war spirit and the camaraderie amongst the women at Mary Vale is so lovely to read. The whole book was just so lovely!
I seriously can’t wait to read more in this series and seriously hope the author just keeps writing more and more of these books as they are just amazing and I could read them forever.
The characters we got to love from the first book got to develop some more of their lives and stories and it was great getting to read what they were up to. The book really embodied the strength and war spirit and the camaraderie amongst the women at Mary Vale is so lovely to read. The whole book was just so lovely!
I seriously can’t wait to read more in this series and seriously hope the author just keeps writing more and more of these books as they are just amazing and I could read them forever.
February 19, 2023
This was absolutely brilliant.
February 14, 2021
This is the 2nd book in the series by Daisy, the story centres on nurse Ada, Gracie, Diana and Zelda, a Jewish refugee who arrives at Mary Vale alone and scared. I really enjoyed this and I hope the 3rd book is just as good.
August 18, 2021
This book was lent to me by a friend who knows I've an interest in things WWII related. Following the midwives and mothers-to-be of a Lake District Mother and Baby Home is an interesting premise, although aligning the story to Call the Midwife is a very big stretch in my opinion. Anyway, my interest was piqued enough to spend a solid period of time reading it, and on the whole I enjoyed it.
The girls who find themselves at Mary Vale Mother and Baby Home are each interesting, especially Zelda, a Jewish German refugee who arrives at the Home starving and traumatised after fleeing Nazi Germany when her husband is shot in the street for being Jewish.
Diana is pregnant and planning her imminent wedding when her fiancé sets out on a secret mission from which he goes missing, and she must leave the WAAF role she loves to move across the country to have her baby.
Gracie works in the shipyards and dreams of operating the huge dockyard cranes, but when she discovers her dashing suitor is married, and she is pregnant, what direction will her life take?
Their stories are interwoven with characters introduced in the first book in the series, but this book reads very well as a stand alone novel. There is plenty of wit and humour as well as grief and loss, and the setting is very well described. It's very clear that the author knows this area of countryside well and describes it so that you can see it through her eyes.
This is an easy read and I enjoyed it although the style of language used for a 1940's tale and how people are sometimes referred to (ie Harry referring to his senior officer as 'Derek') grated here and there, as did some of the story elements for me.
For instance Diana would have been dismissed from the WAAFs as soon as her pregnancy was known, and she wouldn't have had loose hair at work, it would have been tied or pinned back and not 'falling in a silky curtain over her face'. The SOE Lysanders flew from Tangmere not Duxford, pilots didn't work on the Operations Room balcony where Controllers, Tellers, Liaison, Warning and Recorders worked so Harry being 'recalled' there is highly unlikely, the mountain-rescue team mentioned by Sister Mary Paul wasn't formed until 1953, and church bells certainly wouldn't have been rung for a wedding, as their ringing during wartime was to announce an invasion.
I also found the repeated reference to 'pouting' lips off-putting, together with some of the other descriptions of the women of Mary Vale. At one point I checked to see if the author was female because the descriptions of the girls in the story seemed more like they'd been written by a man!
I both loved and was disappointed by Zelda's story, which felt like it had two distinct halves. It all started very strongly and realistically. She's introduced as a terrified, exhausted and grief-stricken Jewish German refugee who barely speaks English and is viewed with hostility and suspicion by some of the women at Mary Vale and locals in nearby Kendal. This is an interesting angle in a WWII-era novel and could have been better explored. Yet we very quickly move to there being almost no references at all to her German accent or speech patterns. And it seemed to me that after the trauma of losing her beloved husband and fleeing for her life and that of her unborn child the decisions she makes later on in the book are highly unlikely within the time scale described. I'm not against the story's direction for her, just the speed and at which it happens.
The Spitfires of the title and cover are noticeably absent from the story, except by association with Duxford. There are certainly some spitfire characters though!
All that said, this is a well-told story with some interesting characters. Perhaps a little too much romance for me, but I'd while away a few more hours reading another of Daisy Styles' books.
The girls who find themselves at Mary Vale Mother and Baby Home are each interesting, especially Zelda, a Jewish German refugee who arrives at the Home starving and traumatised after fleeing Nazi Germany when her husband is shot in the street for being Jewish.
Diana is pregnant and planning her imminent wedding when her fiancé sets out on a secret mission from which he goes missing, and she must leave the WAAF role she loves to move across the country to have her baby.
Gracie works in the shipyards and dreams of operating the huge dockyard cranes, but when she discovers her dashing suitor is married, and she is pregnant, what direction will her life take?
Their stories are interwoven with characters introduced in the first book in the series, but this book reads very well as a stand alone novel. There is plenty of wit and humour as well as grief and loss, and the setting is very well described. It's very clear that the author knows this area of countryside well and describes it so that you can see it through her eyes.
This is an easy read and I enjoyed it although the style of language used for a 1940's tale and how people are sometimes referred to (ie Harry referring to his senior officer as 'Derek') grated here and there, as did some of the story elements for me.
For instance Diana would have been dismissed from the WAAFs as soon as her pregnancy was known, and she wouldn't have had loose hair at work, it would have been tied or pinned back and not 'falling in a silky curtain over her face'. The SOE Lysanders flew from Tangmere not Duxford, pilots didn't work on the Operations Room balcony where Controllers, Tellers, Liaison, Warning and Recorders worked so Harry being 'recalled' there is highly unlikely, the mountain-rescue team mentioned by Sister Mary Paul wasn't formed until 1953, and church bells certainly wouldn't have been rung for a wedding, as their ringing during wartime was to announce an invasion.
I also found the repeated reference to 'pouting' lips off-putting, together with some of the other descriptions of the women of Mary Vale. At one point I checked to see if the author was female because the descriptions of the girls in the story seemed more like they'd been written by a man!
I both loved and was disappointed by Zelda's story, which felt like it had two distinct halves. It all started very strongly and realistically. She's introduced as a terrified, exhausted and grief-stricken Jewish German refugee who barely speaks English and is viewed with hostility and suspicion by some of the women at Mary Vale and locals in nearby Kendal. This is an interesting angle in a WWII-era novel and could have been better explored. Yet we very quickly move to there being almost no references at all to her German accent or speech patterns. And it seemed to me that after the trauma of losing her beloved husband and fleeing for her life and that of her unborn child the decisions she makes later on in the book are highly unlikely within the time scale described. I'm not against the story's direction for her, just the speed and at which it happens.
The Spitfires of the title and cover are noticeably absent from the story, except by association with Duxford. There are certainly some spitfire characters though!
All that said, this is a well-told story with some interesting characters. Perhaps a little too much romance for me, but I'd while away a few more hours reading another of Daisy Styles' books.
November 4, 2025
2.75 rounded up - I don’t think I liked it enough for it be a full three stars but also didn’t dislike enough to settle at a 2 star rating either.
It times it felt a little flat and lacked realism and in other parts it felt like plot lines were rushed to an end. I did enjoy the setting and felt like I could picture the scene well, I felt okay about almost all the characters, though some points they could feel slightly jarring.
Dora felt like Daisy Styles version of Phyllis Crane and I was saddened by her ending, her ending felt slightly rushed due to its brief mentioning towards the end of the book. Dora’s story felt real to the events which took place however I feel like this subplot did not get the attention it deserved and therefore fell a little lacklustre for me.
Other than Dora, the beginning of Zelda’s story and a sprinkling of other little moments it all felt too happy go lucky, pick up move on, no real conversation to be had sort of book, which is not real in todays world let alone in the midst of a world war.
It times it felt a little flat and lacked realism and in other parts it felt like plot lines were rushed to an end. I did enjoy the setting and felt like I could picture the scene well, I felt okay about almost all the characters, though some points they could feel slightly jarring.
Dora felt like Daisy Styles version of Phyllis Crane and I was saddened by her ending, her ending felt slightly rushed due to its brief mentioning towards the end of the book. Dora’s story felt real to the events which took place however I feel like this subplot did not get the attention it deserved and therefore fell a little lacklustre for me.
Other than Dora, the beginning of Zelda’s story and a sprinkling of other little moments it all felt too happy go lucky, pick up move on, no real conversation to be had sort of book, which is not real in todays world let alone in the midst of a world war.
May 7, 2023
Having read the first book in this series, I wanted to carry on to read more about the midwives at Mary Vale. Ada, Dora, Sister Therasa, Sister Mary Paul and Sister Ann make this a welcoming place for the temporary residents of the mother and baby home and welcoming place to spend their pregnancy and have their babies.
This books 'mothers' are Diana, Gracie and Zelda and all have very different experiences that bought them to Mary Vale. Diana's boyfriend's work turns out to be more dangerous than she knew whilst Gracie had been working in a man's world and hopes to drive a crane on the docks when she leaves Mary Vale. Zelda has arrived to take shelter in England after her husband is killed by the Nazi's. Meanwhile, Ada gets a chance at happiness as Dora worries about her son's being away serving in the war.
There are a lot of stories occuring in this book but it doesn't seem too many when reading it. All in all a great book.
This books 'mothers' are Diana, Gracie and Zelda and all have very different experiences that bought them to Mary Vale. Diana's boyfriend's work turns out to be more dangerous than she knew whilst Gracie had been working in a man's world and hopes to drive a crane on the docks when she leaves Mary Vale. Zelda has arrived to take shelter in England after her husband is killed by the Nazi's. Meanwhile, Ada gets a chance at happiness as Dora worries about her son's being away serving in the war.
There are a lot of stories occuring in this book but it doesn't seem too many when reading it. All in all a great book.
October 13, 2020
An enjoyable read of women bonding in a mother and baby home during WWII whilst they decide to give up their babies for adoption as well as the friendships they make despite coming from different social classes and with the midwives and nuns who run the home. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. This was part of a parcel of books given as a gift from 2 special friends Brid and Andrea during my recuperation following surgery so more special because of this.
December 29, 2025
"Home Fires and Spitfires" is the second book in the "Wartime Midwives series by Daisy Styles. While I enjoyed the book I didn't like as much as I enjoyed as much at the first book. I felt that the stories about the 3 women who come to Mary Vale were not told in more detail. But overall, it was an okay read and I stick with the series/
June 8, 2024
A real feel good storyline
A brilliant mixture of characters. Old fashioned standards dealt with in a sympathetic manner. The reader wants the characters outcome to be happy and it was. Most enjoyable read
A brilliant mixture of characters. Old fashioned standards dealt with in a sympathetic manner. The reader wants the characters outcome to be happy and it was. Most enjoyable read
January 7, 2026
Loved this book, an easy read and one that I found I couldn’t put down! It’s a heartwarming story of the wonderful Mary Vale mother and baby home and the women it helped, not only delivering babies but helping to heal and grow them for the future.
September 30, 2020
Loved it!
October 6, 2020
Another lovely war time story by Daisy Sykes with warm, relatable characters. I hope there will be more in this series.
February 3, 2021
Another amazing sequel. Trails and tribulations of the women and war. The strength that they had is unbelievable. Brilliantly written cant wait for the next installment
February 14, 2021
A good wartime saga around a group of midwives and their lives
Read
May 14, 2021A lovely gentle story inter-meshed with the horror of a world war
July 23, 2021
Not my usual choice of book but I really enjoyed it. The characters were lovely and the descriptions of the area took me to the lakes and up the fells.
August 2, 2021
Simply loved it and could not put it down. A brilliant series and looking forward to more of these books.
August 6, 2021
Mary Vale
Another fantastic book from this author I just love the midwifes and the nuns it's well worth reading 5 stars
Another fantastic book from this author I just love the midwifes and the nuns it's well worth reading 5 stars
April 7, 2023
A fantastic tale set around a home for mother's and babies, following the lives of Zelda, Diana Gracie and Sister Ada ❤
July 1, 2024
A group of women meet at a home for unmarried women and babies during wartime.
December 9, 2025
We meet a few more women who are pregnant and give birth at Mary Vale, one of them a German lady called Zelda,
January 8, 2026
A very sweet book. Nothing too heavy, some little giggles and a nice warm feeling throughout the book. A well crafted wartime romance book looking on the bright side of life.
March 25, 2021
Loved both books in this series and looking forward to the next.
June 4, 2022
A gripping tale
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews