From the book blurb, I thought Debutante would be a frothy manners novel, with some social backstabbing, romance, and pretty dresses. And this is how the novel starts. Eligible young women from established families (or from rich families with social aspirations) will be presented to the queen to begin their Season of competition fashion, upscale social events and serious husband-hunting. 

The season ends with the beginning of World War 2, and the book changes, by degrees, into a story of how these four girls survive the war. The debs take up high-class, voluntary work at first, but as the war gets closer to home, these lighter jobs disappear. The girls' hobbies as debs -- speaking foreign languages, driving a motorcar, etc. -- turn into essential skills in the war efforts.  Money and privilege can't protect them from the horrors of war, and although the book started as a social drama, it doesn't hold back. 

I particularly liked how the four girls grew over the course of the novel. Their goals and priorities changed quite a lot over the years, but their underlying personalities didn't.

This is a historical fiction novel set at the start of WWII and follows the lives of 4 debutantes Peggy, Isabelle, Ronnie and Anne. The reader will get to know the girls as they are introduced to the world, and follow their lives through the war. Great read for lovers of historical fiction and female relationships!

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

Touching and absorbing story of women’s lives in Britain during World War II.

Four young women, making their debut in London society in 1939, have no idea that their lives will soon change beyond all recognition.

Lady Veronica Delacourt, the daughter of a duke, Peggy Armitage, who’s father is a factory owner, Isabelle le Vaillant, with a french father and English mother and Anne Venables, the product of an old gentry family, are brought together by a broken leg and a couple of social climbing mothers.

The author does an excellent job of portraying the narrow and restricted lives of unmarried girls from upper class and ambitious middle class families. Making the best marriage you possibly could and having children was all their mothers wanted for them. Peggy who wants to attend Oxford, is thwarted first by her mother who wants her to move in society and then by the war from realizing her ambitions. Veronica is never even given a choice of future by a mother who can’t imagine any life but the one she’s led. Anne doesn’t care about having a season but is forced into it by her mother, a woman with no interest in or affection for her. Isabelle, who wishes to remain in France with her father, is led into a season of embarrassing husband hunting by her pushy, ambitious mother. The consequences for this blind adherence to tradition are dire for Veronica and damaging to the others.

The only part of the book that I thought ridiculous is the secret the girls decide to keep. There would have been no harm in allowing the two people who most deserved to know in on the secret. The excuse given wouldn’t apply if the truth went no further and I don’t believe it would have. Imagine what will happen when the truth comes out; I doubt those who have been lied to will be happy about it.

This is a solid historical saga following 4 women through the war years. It starts off light and a little bland, but then gets pretty meaty with the different paths the characters take.

"Debutante" is a well-written historical novel with complex and well-rounded characters and an interesting and emotional plot.

The four protagonists were all very different from each other and had very different storylines, which I greatly enjoyed. I liked how the author managed to portray the war, its consequences, and the roles women could play in it from four different perspectives. I also liked that the author didn't shy away from showing the more horrific consequences of war and how they impacted the four women.

What kept me from rating the novel even higher was the ending which felt somewhat rushed. I was impressed by the ending of one of the four storylines, but the other three were a little to smooth for my taste. An additional hundred pages would probably have made them feel more earned.

Overall, this is a really emotional book about four women's experiences during WW2 and I would definitely recommend it not only for the great writing but also for the wonderfully complex characters.

Debutante takes us through the last Season in London before the start of WWII. Four girls become debs for various reasons - society expectations, to find a rich husband, to make a parent happy. Each girl has their own motivations, hopes and dreams that are impacted but thy social mores of the time. What starts out a a light, fun-filled tale of balls and parties becomes something more serious and war looms. the girls must look to what they really want and how life will never be the same.

An enjoyable read.

The 1939 Debutante season is coming up and the story follows four girls who come from different backgrounds but coming together for what would be the last season before the war begins. The story follows the feelings of each girl and her mother about attending the season. They are presented at court and then lots of balls to attend. When the season is at the end it becomes 'what now'. Peggy, Isabelle, Ronnie and Anne have become friends during this time. Now the war is upon the country and where will they fit in with the changes it brings to their life. Each life is so different from what you would expect of a debutante. Can the girls stay close with all going on in the world? What was important is no longer what they want or need now. The story takes us to after the end of the war and where they wind up in their lives. Well worth the read.

The book tells the story of four young debutantes, whose first season takes place in 1939, just before the beginning of World War II. The girls are very different, but what they have in common is that they are not enthusiastic about being a debutante and they would rather do something else.

Lady Veronica, known to her friends as Ronnie doesn’t want to get married, she thinks herself too young and inexperienced (and she is right as the story unfolds). She is impulsive and bubbly, she loves her brother and driving a car. She has no idea what she really wants or needs, which leads to some very tragic mistakes on her part.

Isabelle would prefer to stay in France, which she considers to be her homeland, than go to gloomy England and pretend to be someone she is not. She and her mother don’t speak the same language and have very different ideas about what Isabelle’s future should be. Her mother tries to play her to her advantage and plots intrigues to force a suitable suitor to make an offer of marriage. All this Isabelle finds despicable and unnecessary mean, but it is hard for her to rebel against her own mother and her wishes.

Beautiful Anne doesn’t want to be a debutante because she is shy and prefers quiet solitude to exquisite social gatherings. She is the only one from all four girls that gets a real chance of finding true and everlasting love during the season in 1939. But then the war commences and there seem to be more urgent matters than love. The fear of the German invasion and the defeat make it difficult to make any plans concerning the future.

Peggy Armitage dreams of studying at Oxford and considers being a debutante a waste of time and a ridiculous trifle. But then she truly enjoys the season, finds real friendship and maybe a bit of love. When faced with the beginning of World War II she has to make her own difficult choices and decide if she is ready to realise her dreams.

Don’t let the beginning of the novel fool you. It seems light-hearted and a little silly at the beginning, but when the girls have to face the real world and its problems, the story gains substance and becomes truly engaging. So, it is worth to stick with the characters and see how they develop and make their own choices. During the novel these girls become so much more than silly, emptyheaded debutantes. They become drivers, spies, civil servants, lovers, wives and mothers, who fight for survival and victory.

"The frivolous ambitions of the debutantes - and their mothers - were amongst the first casualties of war. The war brought times of heartbreak to each of them, but also gave them the opportunity - indeed, the need - to change direction and create new lives for themselves. That was why they gave up instead to be practical and successful women. Yes, it was the war." - my favourite quote from the ARC of "Debutante"

An excelleny introduction to historice fiction, a section of fiction I've never tried. I've had an interest in the debutant season and while this touched on it, it was the charactors that drove the story. I found it an very escapist read, perfect for a holiday or a lazy Sunday afternoon read.

I so enjoyed this fictional account of the lives of four young girl debutants in the year preceding the second world war. All from very privileged backgrounds and all so naive as they prepare for the social event of their lives. The reader is introduced to each character in turn and builds up a picture of each young life, their hopes and dreams. Each character presents differently but adds equal weighting to the story. However, the onset of war changes everything and for Ronnie, Anne, Peggy and Isobelle life changes irrevocably.
What I particularly enjoyed about this novel was how the characters developed, gained independence and entered into the spirit of war, despite the cost to life. The story continues post wartime to explore outcomes for each girl in a much changed society. A wonderful read and one I shall remember for some time.

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of the book.

From the first few pages I was hooked on this book! What I thought was going to be a light, easy read turned into something much more. You meet the 4 debutantes as they are approaching the 1939 season, each apprehensive about their future and what being a debutante means to them and their family.

Though their world will quickly change at the start of World War II. How can these 4 who became friends despite being different from one another and their only connection being they were all debutantes at the same time face the war and the changes that come?

I loved reading more about the different roles that British women had in WWII -- it was interesting to read about it from a British women perspective because as one of them said in the book, their young adulthood was very different that what they expected, they went from being 18 in 1939 to being 25 in 1945.

I absolutely loved this book !

I so wanted to love this book. Maybe I read it at the wrong time. I could only force myself to get through about 35% of the book. I like the story line and the characters. There was just something about this book I could not get in to. I would love to try and come back to this book at some point and try to read it again. But for now, life is too short to force yourself to read books that don't ignite some kind of emotion in you. Maybe later.....
#Debutante #NetGalley

The Debutantes offers an interesting look into the lives of the young women who came out during the last "season" before the UK entered WWII. The characters are all from very different backgrounds, and how this serves them as they navigate through WWII is an engrossing read. There were a few plot lines that I thought could have been tied up better, but on the whole I enjoyed.

It is the London Season of 1939 and Great Britain is at the brink of war, a war that will test the endurance of that nation. It is also the year when 4 girls will be presented to the Court. Lady Veronica, "Ronnie" the daughter of a Duke, Peggy who is the daughter of a rich merchant, Isabelle with a French father and English mother, is now being summoned to England to become a debutante and Anne who is beautiful but certainly not wealthy.

Peggy is more than reluctant to be presented at Court, but would rather go to University. Isabelle would rather stay in France with her father, but her mother, living in London, has other ideas, and paying off her husband's gambling debts makes it possible for her to get her way and have her daughter become a debutante. Anne, is very contented to stay at home with her music and art, however, it is for her mother that she concedes to being presented at Court. As for Ronnie, becoming a debutante is expected as an aristocrat, but will also help her brother find a suitable wife. And so each girl is presented at Court in their white dresses and ostrich feathers, curtsies before the King and Queen....the Season has begun.

The Season -- balls and teas, mothers acting not only as chaperones, but there to push their 18 year old daughters into suitable marriages. Gossiping with other mothers, all the while keeping an eye out on those many young men, who on their own were scouting the territory. After two months of balls, teas, dances and gaiety the Season was over, the girls disbanded and then War! The young men were off to fight and the young ladies, now "seasoned" and supposedly adults, had other things to think about, also wanting to contribute to the war effort.

The war brought about change for each debutante as they left their friends and entered the real world to meet the challenges of what was facing them. Each girl embarked on what they could do for the war effort, their lives so different from the cocoon they were wrapped in during Season. The world was changing and so were they.

This book was a pleasure to read. I enjoyed it from the first page to the last. It was interesting to read and absorb the changes of each personality, from the young school girl entering the glitter of society's best offering, through the war years and beyond. Sharing their experiences, their growth and their maturity. I would definitely recommend this book with a 5 star rating. As a side note, the presentation of debutantes at court was abolished in 1958. My thanks to NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

A thoroughly excellent read, I loved this book and cannot recommend it highly enough! Commencing with the debutante season of 1939, the book follows the lives of a group of young debutantes presented to the King in that year, and what happened next. The commencement of the Second World War brought huge change to the lives of these protected young women and to society as a whole. The story covers the Blitz, the Wrens, SOE, Egypt, France, the Yanks and more besides, making for a gripping and fascinating read. I love a WW2 novel and this is an excellent one! Highly recommended for anyone interested in this period.

Wonderful. The first section I couldn't put it down. It actually seemed more like 4 books in one, going through the lives of the different Debs. You could really empathize with the characters. I'm not usually into war books but this one captured my eye and you can definitely see how the experience changed the debutantes from the girls they were to who they became. I was very sad about some of them, but it was realistic and real that it wasn't going to be a "happily ever after" type book.
My only complaint was the final section. As rich as the first one was I noticed myself almost skipping by the end of it to find something that was important. It almost seemed like the author ran out of ideas and then slapped a finish on. I would have liked to have heard more about Anne's acclimatization to parenthood and her mother's frustration at her garden. More about the work Isabelle did and how it made her feel alive (I assume that's why she was doing it), And of course (may have missed it?) who started the fire!

Really enjoyed this book. Well written and held my interest throughout. Painted a picture about debs and how the war affected their lives. Was sorry about Isabelle. Wish that could have been better. Favorite character was Peggy. First time to read this author, but will pursue more of her work. A book worth reading. Love this time line