“The Orphan’s Letters” is the second in the “Red Cross Orphans” series by Glynis Peters. While this book can be read as a stand-alone, I’d strongly recommend reading the first book to understand the players and situation. This book suffers from “middle book syndrome” where it picks up from the first and ends on a cliffhanger. While the writing was again fine, it didn’t hold my attention as well as the first book. In this book, Kitty gets involved in a number of things, but it seems as though she fixes things opposed to being involved in them. All of this changes around the 90% mark where she is part of a crew doing something dangerous. As for historical content, I liked the inclusion of the “Donut Dollies” and also the bit about D-Day. I think that if you’ve read and enjoyed the first book in the series, this second one will give you more depth to the characters as they continue fighting for freedom in Britain during WWII.

The Orphan’s Letters by Glynis Peters takes place across the United Kingdom during WWII. Kitty Pattison is a Red Cross nurse, her fiancé Michael a Canadian doctor working with the British Army. Kitty, orphaned at an early age, was raised by her aunt and uncle. Her best friends, Jo and Trixie, are interesting characters - independent women and loyal friends. I was anxious to read this book as the description was enticing. Although I liked all the characters in this book it read more like a romance novel than historical fiction to me.

Kitty is a very interesting young woman who gets lost in nostalgia and feelings of self-pity quite often. I quickly tired of reading about how much she missed Michael as she recalled the moments they spent together. The chapters updating the reader about Kitty’s work, her friends lives, the beauty of the area through letters she wrote to others added a dimension of reality to the overall story.

Kitty worked in very challenging medical situations, as well as having a myriad of personal experiences and problems that required patience and humor. She never shied away from hard work, knuckling down in treating men injured in battles even when she was beyond exhaustion. The detailed descriptions of her work as a Red Cross nurse were the most interesting part of this story. I also enjoyed her joy and sense of accomplishment when she took the job of managing the orphans at Fell Hall Orphan Home, a farm for children orphaned by the war, donated by her friends Jenny and Stanley.

My rating reflects that the personal relationships and issues experienced by Kitty and her friends overrode the historical fiction aspect, rending The Orphan Letters more of a romance novel. I was disappointed not to find an Author's Notes with information on Peters research methods and indication of what, besides the battles and hospital scenes, was based on fact.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarpersCollings for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book; keen to catch up with Kitty and friends.
Although helpful if you’ve read the previous book, you could still enjoy the ups, downs, fun, sorrow and outrage of this story. Meeting new characters and finding Kitty in dangerous situations really does being home, yet again, what life was like during this time. I was constantly fearing the worst for Kitty and he beloved.
There are moments of joy, some sadness and some outrageous goings on from someone you wouldn’t expect.
Excellent writing and a well paced story. I look forward to more.