Dear Mrs. Bird | AJ Pearce

Title: Dear Mrs. Bird

Author: AJ Pearce

Length: 281 pages

Publication date: July 3, 2018

Genre: Adult historical fiction

Rating: 4.5/5

London 1940, bombs are falling. Emmy Lake is Doing Her Bit for the war effort, volunteering as a telephone operator with the Auxiliary Fire Services. When Emmy sees an advertisement for a job at the London Evening Chronicle, her dreams of becoming a Lady War Correspondent seem suddenly achievable. But the job turns out to be typist to the fierce and renowned advice columnist, Henrietta Bird. Emmy is disappointed, but gamely bucks up and buckles down. Mrs Bird is very clear: Any letters containing Unpleasantness—must go straight in the bin. But when Emmy reads poignant letters from women who are lonely, may have Gone Too Far with the wrong men and found themselves in trouble, or who can’t bear to let their children be evacuated, she is unable to resist responding. As the German planes make their nightly raids, and London picks up the smoldering pieces each morning, Emmy secretly begins to write letters back to the women of all ages who have spilled out their troubles. Prepare to fall head over heels with Emmy and her best friend, Bunty, who are spirited and gutsy, even in the face of events that bring a terrible blow. As the bombs continue to fall, the irrepressible Emmy keeps writing, and readers are transformed by AJ Pearce’s hilarious, heartwarming, and enormously moving tale of friendship, the kindness of strangers, and ordinary people in extraordinary times.

I am such a sucker for WWII fiction, and I absolutely loved Dear Mrs. Bird! The writing was excellent for a debut novel. The premise totally drew me in: I loved seeing a story set from a perspective of every day life. These people were being bombed at night and going to work the next morning. They still had to pay rent and get food, and they wanted to go dancing on Friday nights to take make their lives feel normal again. I loved the characters and how they related to each other. I'm already itching to read this book again. I highly recommend the audiobook as well - it's narrated by Anna Popplewell, who played Susan in the Narnia movies! I very much recommend this for fans of historical fiction.