Quentin owns Caldwell Supplies, the premises he rents has been bought by a larger company and he has to tell his family the business that supports them all is about to close. He has five children that depend on him, Imogen, Elsie, Daisy, Baz and little Teddy and his wife Frances is extremely unwell.

Mr. Caldwell doesn’t want to lose his childhood home and the family come up with various ideas on how they can save the house and stay in Bristol. Daisy and Teddy move to the country to live with Aunt Rose and Uncle Bertie. Quentin and Elsie both are employed at Penton’s Emporium and no way will Imogen work for the company that ended her father’s business.

The Caldwell family have had their share of tragedy and misfortune and they know if England’s involved in anther war things will only get worse and people are busy installing air-raid shelters in their backyards. The Caldwell girls have to navigate their first crushes, heartbreak, the fear of another war, watching the men they care for leave to fight and without their mother’s guidance.

I received a copy of Taking Heart (The Caldwell Girls Book 1) by Rowena Summers from NetGalley and Agora Books in exchange for an honest review. You’re given a glimpse into a middle class English families daily life in this quaint historical saga, I look forward to reading the second book in the series Daisy’s War and three and a half stars from me. Please note this book was originally published in 2000 and it has been released for the second time.

A great story about Love and loss during war .
Really enjoyed this book , Loved the characters and the writing style .
It has all the elements of a great historical fiction novel .

Taking Heart is the story if Imogene Caldwell and her sisters. The story takes place just before WWII. I loved reading about the family and how even in the worst times, they come together and find a get through it. I really felt a bond with the characters. I like the writing style and felt like I just couldn't stop reading until the end.

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

A pleasant old fashioned read about a plucky young woman- Imogen- whose family falls apart in the years just before WWII and how she pulls things together. Her father's lost his firm, her mother's died, her brother is sent away and life is just in a knot. Then her father and her sister both get jobs at the company which took over their father's company and she feels at sea. Thanks to Netgalley for the DRC. This is a reissue but the story is timeless.

When their nice cosy life is unexpectedly turned upside down with the crash of the family business, Imogen being the eldest is forced to take on the responsibility of her ailing mother who is in the early stages of senility and two younger sisters. Her father is totally blown away by the loss of his business and a huge loss of confidence in himself as a provider. Then the family is dealt another huge blow by the tragic death of their mother leaving them all rudderless. Though Frances was ineffective in dealing with the day to day lives of her family, she was very much loved and her loss affects them all badly.



Imogen comes up with the idea of taking in paid lodgers despite it being anathema to the society they live in. The youngest Teddy is sent along with Daisy to their aunt's house till they sort things out and Elsie and Imogen decide how they are going to manage not just their finances, but their personal lives and their father who has now become ineffective.

When the firm which took over their business offers their father a job, it is a life saver for him but for Isobel she feels the family are not being loyal to the Caldwell name. When her sister also joins the firm she is appalled but she is holding out but for what she doesnt know. The fact that everyone seems to have found some niche for themselves, along with boyfriends and a purpose whereas she seems aimless and jobless is enough to create tension for Imogen.

The onset of WWII is also imminent but the girls do not seem to want to acknowledge that it is going to happen. Whether reading about it in the newspapers or listening to the news is not the "done thing" for young women of the era I don't know but in this family they all pretended to be deaf and blind to what was happening in the world outside their little town, until it blew up in their face.

The family story of the Caldwells in the setting of just pre WWII was a good one. It embodied family values of the time, along with the position of women and what was expected of them. Family tension and rivalries were also seen - the way women took over the working world had still to come with the actual out break of the War. Characterization was interesting because we had all kinds of people in the book - from the flighty to the serious, from the domineering to the more submissive types.

This story revolves around 19 year old Imogene Caldwell and her sisters as they learn their privileged life is about to come to an end. Her father must sell their business and her mother is very ill and can no longer run the household. The responsibility falls to Imogene as the oldest – her sisters are very different and all react differently to their new life responsibilities. The beginning is somewhat slow but picks up interest as the story progresses.

Taking Heart is the first in a series of books about the Caldwell sisters during World War II. This book focuses on the eldest sister at the start of the war. I really enjoyed this book, I found the characters likeable and I found the plot easy to follow. The three sisters are very different to each other and I look forward to reading the other three books in the series.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC

What a great book. Perfect for a lazy day to read in the sunshine.
The authors writing style was good too and I liked the characters

Can’t wait to read the next book

Well written - Good story about a family on the verge of WWII. Some sorrow and some romance and always the threat of another war. Great sense of place and a wide variety of characters. So glad to see that the story will continue in the next book. Cant wait to read it.

What a lovely book. I really enjoyed this book. It was a great holiday read and was so nice to just sit in the sun and relax reading a great story.
I love the era that this book is set in, such a innocent time before WW2.
I will be looking out for more of Rowena’s books in the future.

English saga writing at its best.We watch young girls grow into women .A book of family romance dealing with life during WW11 and everyday.life. #netgalley#agora

I loved the old timey feel of this story! It reminds me of watching little house on the prarie as a child. A warm story with realistic characters. Finished it fast!

In Rowena Summers’ novel, Taking Heart, three sisters in the Caldwell family struggle with adversity in the form of their father’s failing business, a sick mother, and a developmentally-disabled brother. Living in Bristol, England on the brink of World War 2, the sisters long for love, prosperity, and peace for their family and friends.
Fans of historical fiction and romance will enjoy this sweet story, which remains upbeat and positive-despite heartbreak and hardship- and neatly wraps up everything in the end. I enjoyed this charming story, (Summers’ descriptions of “honey-blonde hair,” “velvety brown eyes,” and “gauche as any school boy” notwithstanding), and I appreciated the historical references to the time period.
Apparently, this is a re-release, as this book was first published in 2001, and it is the first in a series, Caldwell Saga. The story left me sufficiently curious to know what happens in the next book, Daisy’s War.