Christmas with the Spitfire Girls

by Jenny Holmes

**Don't miss Jenny Holmes's latest wartime series, The Air Raid Girls. Part 3 - The Air Raid Wartime Brides - is available now!**---------------------------------------------Yorkshire 1944: All they want this year is a truly happy Christmas... The end of the war feels tantalisingly close, but Air Transport Auxiliary girls Bobbie, Viv and Mary have plenty more flights in their beloved Spitfires yet - battling everything from snow to enemy fire on their journeys. Risking their lives doing their bit for their country, this Christmas they're determined to have some festive fun. But as they set about bringing good tidings for all, a stern and mysterious new flyer in the form of Peggy arrives. What secret is Peggy hiding? Mary has a wedding to plan before her fiancé is sent away, then makes a devastating discovery so shameful she can't tell the other girls. Bobbie's beau issues an ultimatum, and Viv is wondering whether she wants a man at all... With the big day around the corner and hope of peace on the horizon, can the girls find joy and love this Christmas after so many years of war?A heart-warming story of friendship, camaraderie and triumph over adversity that fans of Elaine Everest and Nancy Revell will adore.Readers love Jenny Holmes'A delight to read''I highly recommend this book, great job Jenny!''Really enjoyed this book cant wait to read the next one''Lovely historical drama''I love reading these books on life in WW2''A book you can't put down'

Genres: Christmas, Historical Fiction, Fiction

375 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 15, 2020

About the author

Jenny Holmes lives in a beautiful part of Yorkshire and sets her sagas in the industrial heartland nearby. She enjoys horse riding, gardening and walking her dog in the dales. She also writes children's books as Jenny Oldfield.

Reviews

[Jennifer (not getting notifications) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on the ratings and reviews I was really hoping to love this book more. I just had a hard time connecting with the characters. I feel like the main characters weren’t really developed, as a result it fell a little flat for me.

[Trudie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 3rd book in the spitfire series and finally I have warmed to the characters. This features Bobbie, Viv and Mary as well as Jean and new character Peggy who is hiding a secret. I hope there's more to come in the series.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read for Christmas

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another well written novel featuring the women of the Air Transport Auxiliary on an airfield in Yorkshire during the Second World War. This third novel in the series is set in November 1944, as hopes are high for the end of the war and several of the characters are looking forward to Christmas. Although this is a book in the series, I feel confident that it could be enjoyed as a standalone novel, as the characters are introduced and some of the backstory is included as necessary. In this novel three of the young women are featured: Bobbie, Viv and Mary. A new pilot is introduced, the highly experienced and well known First Officer Peggy Ibbotson, who arrives to fly planes even though she has been training pilots. This book, like the earlier novels in the series, is excellent on the risks that the women face, as transporting the planes involves flying without radios, in planes that often need repair, at the mercy of weather and changing local conditions. It is also known that sometimes enemy planes attack the transport pilots, which makes them extremely vulnerable. This is a very tense novel with twists and turns both on the ground and in the air. I found it an immensely fascinating novel, full of human interest in terms of the perceived dangers and hints of romance and intrigue.

Bobbie has moved on from the traumas of the past, and is now a senior officer. While she enjoys flying, like the other girls she has an special affection for the well designed Spitfire. She is keen to help organise a Christmas event, a dance, despite the tricky moments she endures at the dance that occurs at the start of the book. She admits to being very fond of Ray, who runs a local racehorse stables. Not that the course of their relationship will run smoothly; decisions will have to be made. Mary is deeply in love with Cameron, and commitment may well be demanded. However, she has other concerns, as she worries about her younger brother who is fighting abroad. Viv, the lively, brave and talented Canadian pilot, is not so committed to a man, but is completely determined to ensure that the Christmas celebrations proceed as planned. Meanwhile, the pilots are flying planes against a background of their own fears, especially as some of their loved ones are flying actual combat missions. As relationships can be made more tense by fear, there are also pressures from family and friends.

This is a book which demands to be read once started, as each of the characters is drawn in a consistent manner as the overall story develops. The research into what it feels like to fly a variety of planes in several different conditions is understated but effective. The emotional pressures on the women and those whom they love is well described, especially in the community of the airfield with the various ground crew and other ranks who are all dedicated to getting the maximum number of planes in the air to help the war effort. This is a powerful book on the bravery of the women and men connected with the airfield, the technical requirements of flying and the desperate hope that the war will soon be over before more losses must be faced. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the vivid depiction of wartime conditions, the lives of women in wartime, and the special circumstances of the final months of the war.

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yorkshire 1944: All they want this year is a truly happy Christmas…The end of the war feels tantalisingly close, but Air Transport Auxiliary girls Bobbie, Viv and Mary have plenty more flights in their beloved Spitfires yet – battling everything from snow to enemy fire on their journeys.Risking their lives doing their bit for their country, this Christmas they’re determined to have some festive fun. But as they set about bringing good tidings for all, a stern and mysterious new flyer in the form of Peggy arrives. What secret is Peggy hiding?
Mary has a wedding to plan before her fiancé is sent away, then makes a devastating discovery so shameful she can’t tell the other girls. Bobbie’s beau issues an ultimatum, and Viv is wondering whether she wants a man at all…With the big day around the corner and hope of peace on the horizon, can the girls find joy and love this Christmas after so many years of war?From D-Day onward, ATA personnel knew that soon it would all be over.
The demand for their ferrying and air taxi services decreased and eventually came to an end. After VE Day ATA pilots started returning to their peace time jobs, foreign nationals went home and the pools closed.Besides its pilots the ATA had an extensive support staff. The Operations Officers at each pool would be issued with a list of aircraft for movement that day. From this they drew up the days flying programme.There were flying instructors, ground school instructors, ground engineers, crash rescue teams, met. officers, motor transport drivers, nurses and doctors, administration staff and so on; there were even Air Cadets and Sea Cadets employed as messengers and auxiliary crew members.

[Kerry Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book I think in the series so it helps if you have read the others in the series first, which I have to truly know the characters. Otherwise you could kind of not know their background which would not help with the character depths.
Bobbie, Viv and Mary fly all sorts of aircraft between bases in the second world war, this book is towards the end, 1944.
They have to endure so much with losing one of their crew and then having a newcomer, Peggy join them who has a secret of their own.
Mary's brother goes MIA and Bobbie and Ray have their own issues to deal with and Viv and Giles too.
It's Christmas time and they have a party to organize but then their unit gets partially bombed.
This book like all the others by the author is heartwarming through what was a traumatic time for people, yet it shows you the strength of friendship and how everyone looks after each other, they really care for one another and the strength of these women during the war which are based on women who did fulfil this role in WW2 shows their bravery and courage, truly inspirational
The author writes a nostalgic book with fantastic characters that could easily have been your grandma or if you're older, your aunties. IT's wonderful how she has everyone connected and her writing style is an easy flow, you just don't want to put the book down or lose the characters at all. They become your friends and even family as you wish only the best for them.
I am partial to Jenny Holmes for her style and exemplary writing style.
Highly recommend this WWII novel
Kerry Kennedy Author

[joyce brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book

Jenny really knows how to write an awesome book. The characters are so lifelike and gel together. The ups and downs, love and torment bring the reader along with the atta girls and make you want to read more. I could not out this book down and hope there will be another in this series, bringing the story up to the end of the war and with happy endings for Bobbie and Viv. Thank you Jenny for another great book. I look forwarded reading any more books you write.

[Tanis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't realised this was the third book of a series so I missed some references to things that had happened before and the author does expect you to already know the women's characters from the earlier books but it didn't ruin it.

All in all it's an enjoyable read and I wish I'd read the other two books first. I'll look out for more by this author because it's a well written story.

[Marilyn Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read

I thoroughly enjoyed this book , it was warm and interesting but I have to say I wish that the publishers would say in what order the books are in. I read the first one then this one thinking it was the second one, now I'm about to read the second t one

[Mae Leveson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled to maintain my interest in this book, which is the third in the series, possibly because I lost my connection with the characters (I missed the second book). I wanted to enjoy it, especially with its seasonal theme, but I also found the ending slightly disappointing.

[Leeann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice comfortable read, the only thing I'm noticing with this author is the lack of excitement. Nothing really big happens, no real shockers. Just easy going the whole time, which is nice but would be better if there was some twists and turns

[Annette O'grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

a really enjoyable read thouroughly enjoyed it

[Sara Stobie · Rating 1 out of 5]

So hard to read, really boring, took me an age to finish. Don’t bother.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love to read this genre of historical romance as a break from the crime Thrillers 😍

[Erin ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and I enjoy the storyline very much.

[Maureen Holloway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but formulaic with predictable outcomes.

[Sharron Tennant · Rating 5 out of 5]

thanks for the escapism 😊

[Emma Summers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, I liked the characters and enjoyed reading about the part women took in the flying of WW2, although not allowed into combat they ferried aircraft, around the country and continent, to where the needed to be. Not an easy or safe job by any imagination.
There’s obviously a back story (it’s no.3) but didn’t hinder my enjoyment of this festive story.

[Lynn Hughes]

A lovely story about 3 ATA girls flying crates during 1944. A mixture of love mixed with tragedy. A heartwarming Christmas story with a happy ending for all 3 girls.