Goodnight Sweetheart

by Charlotte Bingham

A romantic wartime novel encompassing both love and tragedy.
As Walter Berrisford paints beautiful Katherine Garland, she asks him to put a ladybird on her finger without his knowing why. He is appalled when he discovers that Katherine is a Nazi. The outbreak of war means that her sister Caro and her friend Robyn join the FANYs, while former maids, Betty and Trixie, work in a factory.
War brings frantic romance to all, including their flatmate Edwina O'Brien, but it is Betty, transferred to decode at the Park that alone discovers the truth about the Ladybird. "From the Trade Paperback edition."

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical

Paperback

First published January 28, 2008

About the author

The Honourable Charlotte Mary Thérèse Bingham was born on 29 June 1942 in Haywards Heath, Sussex, England, UK. Her father, John Bingham, the 7th Baron Clanmorris, wrote detective stories and was a secret member of MI5. Her mother, Madeleine Bingham, née Madeleine Mary Ebel, was a playwright. Charlotte first attended a school in London, but from the age of seven to 16, she went to the Priory of Our Lady's Good Counsel school in Haywards Heath. After she left school, she went to stay in Paris with some French aristocrats with the intention of learning French. She had written since she was 10 years old and her first piece of work was a thriller called Death's Ticket. She wrote her humorous autobiography, called Coronet Among the Weeds, when she was 19, and not long before her twentieth birthday a literary agent discovered her celebrating at the Ritz. He was a friend of her parents and he took off the finished manuscript of her autobiography. In 1963, this was published by Heinemanns and was a best seller.

In 1966, Charlotte Bingham's first novel, called Lucinda, was published. This was later adapted into a TV screenplay. In 1972, Coronet Among the Grass, her second autobiography, was published. This talked about the first ten years of her marriage to fellow writer Terence Brady. They couple, who have two children, later adapted Coronet Among the Grass and Coronet Among the Weeds, into the TV sitcom No, Honestly. She and her husband, Terence Brady, wrote three early episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs together, Board Wages, I Dies from Love and Out of the Everywhere. They later wrote an accompanying book called Rose's Story. They also wrote the episodes of Take Three Girls featuring Victoria (Liza Goddard). In the 1970s Brady and Bingham wrote episodes for the TV series Play for Today, Three Comedies of Marriage, Yes, Honestly and Robin's Nest. During the 1980s and 1990s they continued to write for the occasional TV series, and in 1993 adapted Jilly Cooper's novel Riders for the small screen. Since the 1980s she has become a romance novelist. In 1996 she won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find that Charlotte Bingham is either a two star or a five star read, and in this case it was a two star. When reading one gets a good sense of the times and feel of London in World War II. But something about the dialogue and characters just rang a little false with me. Some of the story was not explained fully - was this due to editing? for instance, Katherine walks off into the French woods disguised with her bicycle, the next we hear of her she is praying for death to come soon - how did she get from one to the other, I wanted to know. Then at the very end of the book, there is a little enigmatic remark from Betty, that she has been throughout decoding "increasingly frantic" messages from Katherine - something that has never been mentioned in the book. The whole thing was a bit of a muddle and I felt that probably there had been more written about this, and then it was edited out carelessly. It's a shame because this could have been a very interesting and compelling book. I did not know much about the secrets of overseas espionage, code-breaking and disinformation during WWII, and this book has the potential to be much more memorable experience.

[Yana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlotte Bingham has a gift when it comes to writing about England during wartime.
As always the story is captivating and touching.
The cast of characters is large and diverse in personalities and stories.
I loved every second I spent reading this book and couldn’t avoid having tears in my eyes when I understood the meaning of the book’s title and during the ending.
Reading about the lives of people during a war will never stop touching my soul.
—-
Instead of trying to understand my feelings right now I will just post one of my favorite quotes:

“My dear, we must not romanticise the war that is undoubtedly ahead, not for a single second. War is terrible, terrible, terrible; and never more terrible than in retrospect. However much one tries to turn away from the memories of the things one saw when one was young, believe me, it is impossible. They are stained, and I mean stained, on your mind, never leaving you, returning to you again and again in your dreams, in waking moments, when one is half asleep, when one is waking. One smells and hears again and again the scents and sickening sounds of war, and the only thing that stops one from falling into an abyss of despair is the knowledge that one did something towards limiting the suffering, sending back the young men to their families- oh, and sending back the enemies to their families too, because when a young man lies dying in your arms, believe me, it doesn’t matter where he comes from, he is just another young man dying for no good purpose. At least, to be honest, for no good purpose that I could ever make out, certainly not one that that one could point to with any certainty, either then or now.”

[Outlander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another winner from Charlotte set in the years just before WW2 and throughout the war years. The characters in these books sound dated to younger ears but I feel it's probably more authentic. Great characters, great story, full of a feeling of the 'stiff upper lip' and all that went with it. A must read and not a difficult read either, highly recommended.

[Charlotte Laver · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve decided I can’t continue - haven’t been grabbed by the storyline at all but then again I usually read detective / gang style books so this was a very different try.

[Ro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book goes at a heck of a pace, through the Second World War at a blink of an eye. Quite enjoyable.

[Anne-marie Owen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not get into this book. Felt like a trial. Gave up after a few chapters

[Pam Masters · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up from the library just because it seemed like a different read. And I'm glad that I did! It was a book I didn't want to stop reading. I was sad when I got to the end because I wanted to know what happened next with the family.

The book follows the Garland family in England from Pre-World War II through the war. It also followed their friends. The story didn't tell just the "happy" but also the sad. It made me feel for the family as they delt with the betrayl of the oldest daughter and her boyfriend (a son of a family friend).

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adored this book! Full of brilliant historical facts and stories! And amazingly romantic! You just get swept along with the story and you actually feel for the characters. This book makes you laugh and cry and I would read it again and again!

[Safa Jarrar · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me more than three months to finish this book. I enjoyed some parts of it, yet it did not get me excited about finishing it. Although it was not descriptive enough, yet at the end of it I realized how much I hate war!!!

[Sarah Hearn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about 6 women and their varying roles in the War. The author doesn't rely on firmly established dates to situate the reader (except for D-Day) so you are left with a general impression of war-time in England and continental Europe. An easy read.

[Shelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the easy read kinda book I like sitting in the sun on the front step.

[Megan Farr · Rating 2 out of 5]

A struggle.

[Teresa]

I just couldn't get into this book...