England, 1944: The love of a twin brother can be powerful. Lizzie and her twin brother Ed are inseparable. Ed goes with his dad to Dunkirk to help bring back some of the soldiers and witness something tragic, which makes Ed withdrawn. Their brother is already a prison of war and Lizzie is trying her best to help Ed because he knows they will eventually be called up.

One morning Lizzie realizes Ed has vanished leaving a note. He does not want to be in the war. What he does not realize as his letter comes up, he was actually assigned to be a “Bevin boy” to work in a coal mine which produces fuel. Lizzie does not want her brother to go to prison for desertion and so she “takes his place”.

They are identical, so with a haircut and a few minor changes she poses as Ed. She befriends a boy named Peter at the coal mine.

This story was incredible moving! Heartbreaking, gripping, intense, and filled with love.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It tells the story of twins, brother and sister. When they turn 18 they know they will be called onto help the war effort. Her brother had previuosly experienced what war was like when at the age of 13 he went with his father to man a boat at Dunkirk. He was so scarred by it that when he turned 18 he ran away rather than join one of the forces.
His sister helped cover up his absence by pretending to be him which had far reaching consequences.
This book gave an insight to what else happened during the war.

This was a very interesting story I didn't know much about. I enjoyed reading it and towards the end I really wanted to know how it ended but it ended really abruptly and made it feel really sudden. I would have loved to have to have learned how Lizzie's sacrifice affected her.

I would have loved to have learned more about the friends Lizzie made during her time down the mines and after the war.

I appreciated the depiction of PTSD that Lizzie's brother Ed suffered from his time at Dunkirk and what made him run away from his duties for helping during the war.

Thank you to NetGalley, Liz Trenow and the publishers for a review copy.

The Secret Sister by Liz Trenow was a very appealing novel. The novel is set in England during the war. Lizzie and her brother Ed are twins who also have an older brother. If the war keeps up, both brothers will eventually be called to serve. Lizzie also wants to contribute to the cause as her parents are both doing. Lizzie’s father and brother work on the docks and when a call goes out to all sea-worthy boats to help the boys escape the bloody beaches of Dunkirk where they have been pursued by the Germans with nowhere to go, Lizzie’s father and her older brother decide to help. Because she and her twin are only thirteen, Ed is forbidden to go. But he slips out early to join them. The three make many trips to the beaches of Dunkirk to save Britain’s army. However, the bloodshed and fierce fighting make Ed decide that he just cannot fight when called up.

He receives his summons and after the physical is determined healthy to go to war. He cannot accept this and runs away, but later mail indicates that he is to help mine coal instead of fighting. The men who do this are called Bevin Boys. To keep Ed from going AWOL, she dresses as her brother and works in the mine herself.

This novel was written, I’m sure to show that there were British citizens who did their part, just not holding a gun. Coal was essential to the war effort and the men and boys who worked the dangerous mines were just as necessary as those who fought. This was a very well-written novel as all of Ms. Trenow’s novels are. I read it quickly because I had to know how the story ended.

A story about the men who was in prison if they didn't fight , about the love that one sister had for her brother and her strength to protect him no matter the cost. Ad well as a story that brings to life what its like to have PTSD, as well as the the irreplaceable bond of twins, and day to day life in England during WWII plus it'll make you feel all of the emotions.

This is a truthful look at another little known history of Britain’s part in WWII.
Those men who refused to fight were often imprisoned. There was a lottery that fell to some men to work in the coal mines. Dirty, unhealthy, work, but vitally important for the war effort.
Sadly PTSD was unknown at that time. Even now, it is often overlooked unless someone has an obvious, well documented experience that brought it on. Trauma survivors need more support assistance to help them heal.
As the oldest of ten kids, I sacrificed most of my childhood to protect and provide security for my younger siblings. While the parent/child relationship should be strong, often a sibling stands in the gap to protect their other siblings. This story is based on that premise.

The Secret Sister shows a different side of WWII that I was not very familiar with. It focuses on The Bevin Boys (coalminers) that were sent to mine the mines instead of the front. They were very important to the war effort and I enjoyed learning about them and what they did! The story focuses on twins Eddie and Lizzie. Eddie helped rescue soldiers from Dunkirk as a 14 year old and by the time he comes of age, he is still suffering from PTSD from the horrific images he saw as a boy. Fearing the worst when he receives his call-up orders, he runs and hides, telling no one where he is going. Lizzie decides to disguise herself and go in his place. I wont give what happens next away, but it's a good one!

The story focuses more on PTSD, the irreplaceable bond of twins, and day to day life in England during WWII. It was definitely an interesting read and I recommend it for historical fiction lovers.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to preview this book. This is a historical fiction book that takes place during WWII, focusing on the Bevin Boys, coal miners that were sent to the mines instead of the front. It focuses on twins, Ed and Lizzie and the PTSD that he experienced when he helped his Dad rescue soldiers from Dunkirk years earlier. When he disappears after being called up for service, Lizzie decides to take his place in the mines to protect him from being thrown in jail. I loved that it touches on conscientious objectors, PTSD, and life in England during WWII. I binged this book, wanting to find out what happened next and how it would be resolved. I definitely recommend the book and enjoyed reading it and learning more about a part of WWII that I didn't know as much about.

This book taught me a lot about a part of history I had no idea about. I read a lot of WWII historical fiction and I had never read about the conscripted coal miners, so I’m very glad to have read about this and learned more about it.

This is a very interesting and unique concept. While I found myself questioning how the MC was getting away with everything, there were very well thought out details that I would never have thought of. (This is hard to write about without giving spoilers!)

I loved the relationships between characters. While there weren’t many, the ones that did get their time in the spotlight were full of emotion and I could feel how the characters were feeling towards each other. That’s not easily achievable in books, so hats off to the author!

I feel like the beginning lacked some depth. I find it hard to describe. It wasn’t bad in the slightest, I just feel it was missing something, like it was sort of a flat story. It did get better near the end, though, when paths crossed and secrets were revealed. And I did like the way PTSD was represented throughout, because it’s very important to have represented in these kinds of novels.

Overall I do definitely recommend this book, it kept me guessing and taught me stuff I didn’t know about the war!

Video-review to be posted on my TikTok @iammadeofbooks shortly!

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this book!

This book was sent to me by Netgalley electronically for review. Thanks to the publisher and the author. This is a great historical fiction novel written by a talented author. The characters are realistic, and the story is intriguing. Enjoy

I will admit, I’ve been a little saturated with WW2 books lately. But this book has such a different spin and the story was unputdownable. I truly enjoyed every page! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the early read.

The secret sister was a pleasure to read…. I’d like to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley UK, for my copy of this engaging story which I recommend to anyone looking for a fulfilling, page-turning read.

With the war still raging, everyone must do their part—but for Lizzie, that's more complicated than for most. Her twin brother Edward, traumatized from his experiences with the "Dunkirk little ships" when he was little more than a child, flees, and there's a small window in which Lizzie can make a choice. Ed's posting is not to the military but to the mines: if she takes his place, can she save him from the consequences?

I picked this up because I've never heard of the "Bevin Boys," young men who were conscripted not to do battle but to work in the mines. It's a fascinating history, though: the British government, realizing that they'd conscripted too many miners and were running low on the coal needed to power ships, trains, and electrical supplies, put out a call for volunteers. The response fell far short of what was needed, though, and so the government started taking a full tenth(!) of new conscripts and sending them to the mines.

So it's that position that Lizzie finds herself in: deep in a mine rather than, say, on the battlefields of France. As a Bevin Boy, she's treated with suspicion and derision—anyone without a uniform is suspected of being a deserter or a "conchie," a conscientious objector. For Lizzie, of course, it's a bit more complicated than usual (imagine trying to wash the filth of the mines off while preserving your secret identity when the showers are communal!), but there are some things in here that I never would have thought about: that it took decades for the government to acknowledge the efforts put in by the Bevin Boys; that their required service lasted years longer than the war; that the horses used in older mines were kept underground for almost all of their working lives, allowed up to the surface for "holidays" only rarely (in this book, once a year). It's never an easy job, but it's worth it to Lizzie to know that she's doing her part in more ways than one.

Three things I would have liked to see: First, I'd have loved to see more from the supporting characters in this book. Lizzie makes two friends, and we hear a bit about them, but we get virtually nothing about the other Bevin Boy trainees, and nothing about the long-term miners Lizzie ends up working with. How many of her trainee cohort are glad to be in the mines rather than in battle, and how many of them would have preferred the armed forces, and where do they come from, and how is their experience in the mines? And what are the stories of the long-term miners? Are they following family tradition, do they resent the Bevin Boys for their equal pay and educational opportunities, what are their different styles of work? We don't really know, but I'd have gladly read an extra fifty pages if it meant those experiences were worked in. Second, I'd love to know if there would have been consequences for Lizzie, as by that point in the war women were receiving call-up notices as well (for different roles than men got, generally), and, well. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that it's not possible for Lizzie to be in two places at once. And third...again, trying to avoid spoilers, but in the epilogue Lizzie thinks something to the effect that the men who served longer than she did had a much greater right to be acknowledged than she did. But that saddens me, because (aside from the fact that Lizzie puts herself in a dangerous position voluntarily, to help both country and family, and experiences trauma as a result!) it wasn't just the Bevin Boys whose contributions went unrecognized—many women who did critical and perilously dangerous work as spies, for example, remained unrecognized for their work because...they were women, I guess, and if it was women's work then it couldn't possibly have been important.

For all that, I'm grateful to learn a bit about a part of history I didn't know about—and "The Secret Sister" made for an easy springboard into that.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.