Forbidden love and family secrets In World War Two Liverpool in the heartrending new saga from the author of Goodnight Sweetheart.
Rosie has grown up in the heart of Liverpool's Italian community, treated as one of their own. With a father away at sea and a mother more interested in other men than her only daughter, the bighearted Grenellis are the closest thing Rosie has to a proper family.
But when war breaks out, and Italy becomes the Allies' adversary, everything changes. The community is torn in friends become enemies, neighbours become traitors and Rosie is left uncertain of just who she can trust.
As war intensifies, and Liverpool is subjected to relentless bombings, things become more perilous. When a devastating attack leaves her mother dead, Rosie is sent to live with her aunt in Edge Hill. Her father is feared missing at sea and her aunt lets slip a family secret which has unimaginable consequences…
Fleeing her cruel aunt, Rosie becomes a Land Girl and falls in love – with someone utterly forbidden. As bombs drop and families are ripped apart by conflict at home and abroad, can they find happiness or will war stand in their way?
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 in a Preston, Lancashire, England. She had been a keen reader from the childhood. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction.
She has earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, she found an agent. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her name to Melinda Wright and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her present historical romance novels, she has adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70m of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide. Now Penny Halsall lived in a house in Nantwich, Cheshire. She worked from home.
This was my first book by Annie Groves and I thoroughly enjoyed it and I keep an eye out for any others by her at the library now. It certainly made a change to read about the bombing of Liverpool rather than London and interesting to find out what different jobs her female characters do for the war effort.
This one was better. Unlike the previous book where we follow the love life of Molly and her dealings with her obnoxious sister this one has a good storyline. The book begins with Italy entering the war on tge wrong side. This is important because our main character Rosie is living in a large Italian community her best friend Bella is Italian and her family is like Rosie's own. With Italy now the enemy their community is torn apart. The men are hauled off in the night and literally shipped off to their deaths and the anger and resentment felt by the women left behind causes a huge rift. They leave Liverpool and Rosie turns to her work only to fall into a similar trap when her new good friend Sheila accuses her of stealing her boyfriend. Rosie becomes a fire watcher, her mother who is let's say loose with her favours takes up a new lover while her dad is out at sea after it's heavily hinted she was having an affair with Bella's uncle. When their house is bombed and her mother killed Rosie is forced to live with her awful aunt who shatters her world with a terrible secret and is even more terrible than June in the last book. We do meet Molly and Sally in this book as well. Rosie is kicked out by her aunt when her dad is lost at sea and joins the land army. Here the story comes full circle as she comes face to face with Italian POWs while on the job. As I said this was better quite enjoyable and engaging. Molly's love life was sadly not interesting. Some of the stories overlap with Rosie being in the shelter that was bombed and Molly in the last book rescued people from that same bombing. I still think this series would've been better if it had followed a set of characters from start to finish but at least it seems to be improving.
Persistence, overcoming obstacles, love, family and friends
This is the first book I have read from this author. It was a good story. The characters are pretty believable. It does seem as one drama leads to the next. Rose is the main character. Her Father is a loving, strong character and hard-working man. Her Mother does not have any of those attributes. Rosie is more like her Father. I'm going to read the next in this series and may update this review.
I usually love reading anything by Annie Groves, but this book I found really hard to get in to. I tried for a couple of chapters and then left it and went back to it but still I couldn't get in to it. Its a shame because this author is usually right up my street.
As I read more and more of Ms. Groves books, I see that that the heroine's stories consistently follow the same arc, and that the characters are rather two dimensiional. However, the adroit use of dialect and the nostalgic style effectively transport you back in time. Of particular interest in this story is the focus on the unfair treatment of suspected fascits in WWII.
Read this Book a Few Times and Enjoyed it Just as Much as The First Time .. Annie Groves is One of My Favourite Authors and I Would Recommend Her Books To Everyone .. More so to those Who Love Tales of WW2 ;)
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Although a little soppy and predictable there were some unexpected twists and turns. It was also interesting contextually, I found the land girls lives fascinating! Good holiday read!
One of my first wartime saga books, I really enjoyed being transported into the story, going through the ups and downs with the characters. This fictional account is utterly believable and a real eye opener as to how lucky we are in this day and age.
Enjoyed this book. The central character, Rosie, is likeable and it is interesting how she deals with family, friends and romance set to the background of WWII.