****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Another fabulous episode in the life of the girls who risk their lives every day in a WW2 ammunitions factory. I truly believe that Annie Clarke (BTW also writes as Milly Adams, and Margaret Graham) is a time traveller. How else could she suck you into the day to day life of a pit village in 1942, and the daily privations which are accepted as the norm – cycling in the snow (how else are you going to get anywhere?); keeping new tea leaves for special occasions only; all contributing from meagre rations for a celebration; getting up at 4am for the early shift in the factory; the yellow-stained skin and hair from the noxious chemicals; working with constant risk of explosions which would take a limb, or a life. But, in her page-turning story about Fran and friends, we learn so much more too – the code-breaking activities at Bletchley Park, the secret service, who must keep one step ahead of the dreadful fascists’ constant attempts to sabotage the war efforts, with no concern for whose lives they destroy in the process; the miners, working hard in dangerous and cramped coal seams to provide essential fuel, plus food on their families’ tables; the evacuated children, many who have lost one or both parents - and so much more.If you love a good saga, and want to get a real insight for a life that many of our parents and grandparents learned to regard as ‘normal’ you must read this series. Simply brilliant. I can’t wait for Margaret Graham’s next book, whatever nom de plume she chooses.
