Frances Mary is 20-years old, single and driving from Leeds to the East Riding of Yorkshire in mid-August 1943, has to live with her parents and manage the canteen at a nearby airfield under construction. A civil engineer in charge of the project, who lodges with her parents, is meeting with Bomber Command because of delays in opening the airfield for operational use by the Royal Air Force. Also attending the meeting is his American structural engineer, who will assist with the technical advice. This was a great book and discovers that she is pregnant. A furore erupts between her and her parents, and the lodger goes missing. Her parents want the baby adopted, but as she listens to Ave Maria during childbirth, she decides to keep her newborn child. It was a great book.

2.5 stars. This is a mother’s story as told by her son, but she made him promise to wait until she had passed before he told it. “John” was born out of wedlock to a single-mother in England towards the end of WWII, but he didn’t find this out until he was an adult. The story is very detailed, and in the introduction the author describes how he used ancestry.com and talked to his half-sister to fill in details.

The book read very oddly though. It gave me the feeling like I was reading the transcript of an interview from a documentary. Everything was very dry, straight forward, and didn’t seem like there was much feeling in it. Also, there was another character in the story, Michael Fromm who I couldn’t figure out why he mattered to the story as he never interacted with the main characters until the very end. Then in the afterward the author mentions that he created that character and his back story to tie the story together. Well, he had an interesting story, but he added nothing to the novel.

It only took a couple hours to read, but I won’t be reading anything else by the author. Thank you for sharing your mother’s story.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

One of the most unusual books that I’ve recently read. Each section, describing the individuals involved, is told in minute detail and you do get a good feel for the characters. It’s written by the son as it was related to him by his mother, Frances Mary, when she told him for the first time about his father, a secret she had kept for 84 years. John has filled in some sections for clarity so the book is listed as fiction. First half of book is mostly about Francis, a career girl who did well in her first jobs. George Luckett, a civil engineer working at the nearby airfield was renting a room from her parents. A sudden encounter, he physically restrained her Francis said, led to pregnancy. Thereafter her life changed drastically. Afterward there are chapters about George, and how the incident altered his life. My impression is the book could use an editor to make it shorter and crisper but still retain the flavor.

After his mother's death, the author was allowed to dig into his family history. His mother made him promise not to start her memoir until she had died as she was so ashamed that his father wasn't his biological father.

The book is written, as told by his mother, and is a shocking account of her life. Had she not left Leeds to go to her parents farm her life might have been so much different. To make ends meet her parents utilised what they had left from the farm and house to make ends meet during the war. They sold food and let rooms to the service men who were local to them. One of these lodgers raped her. What happened afterwards was horrendous.

This story is so heartbreaking. It's sad that in this lifetime everything that happened was all scandalous, today, her life would have been so much different. Beautifully written and a story that needed to be told. Such a brave and strong woman let down by society.

this was a great historical read, the characters were great and I really enjoyed going through this story. I look forward to more from this author.