1941. Kathleen Flynn, left Ireland and moved to England with her friend Eve when she had a huge falling out with her mother. When she receives a telegram from her families kindly neighbour James she has no choice but to return to Kilkenny and he’s worried about her brother Anthony's health. You would expect Kathleen to be happy to leave the Blitz behind, but she dreads returning home, the bad memories and she’s worried people will find out about her secret pregnancy and the parish priest and her mother dealt with. Anthony fought in the Spanish Civil War, and Kitty returns to care for him and she has to supplement their income and applies for a job as a nurse’s aide.

At the start of the war Ireland chose to stay out of the war in Europe and remain neutral, but their ports could help the Germans to invade England and the local government is worried members of the IRA might back the Germans and despite Ireland it being part of the Commonwealth. The IRA boys are all arrested and sent and internment camp in county Kildare and German prisoners of war are also kept at Curragh Military Camp.

Her mother was born in Germany, Kitty can speak the language, she discovers the Irish Intelligence or the G2 has been watching her and Anthony, Kitty has no choice and she starts working as an interpreter for them and they want her to check the German prisoner of war’s letters being send back and forth to Germany.

The author Eimear Lawlor cleverly uses real events and social issues relevant in Ireland during the Second World War, to create her latest historical fiction book. A story about family and secrets, the influence of the church, having to take sides and espionage and blackmail.

I received a copy of Kitty’s War from Aria & Aries and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I must say, I had never thought about how the Second World War impacted the Irish people, how they felt about it, it was in a prime position and to travel to England they needed a pass and identity card.

The German prisoners of war were treated well, they consonantly mentioned the food was bland and they ate better than the English people did, many wondered if this was a way of sending secret messages back to Germany and the Ms. Lawlor used this as a bases and to write her fascinating narrative around and four stars from me and I'm keen to read her previous novel, Dublin Girls.

Kitty's War by Eimear Lawlor is a gorgeously-written Historical Fiction novel about one family's life during World War II in Ireland. Though Ireland was technically neutral, residents endured many hardships and heartaches. The Stop List made it impossible for some to leave.

Kitty is passionate about nursing and helping people. As a nurse's aide and a naturally compassionate person, she helps to ease pain. But easing her own is as difficult. While working in London she is informed by a family friend her brother Anthony who has not been the same since the Spanish Civil War is seriously sick. After returning back home to Ireland she is relieved not to hear relentless bombing but encounters different agonies. In addition to her brother's illness, she also lives with the anguish of having her child taken away from her when she was an unmarried teen. Her nursing job affords her and Anthony some financial ease but when her knowledge of the Bavarian dialect is discovered, she becomes a translator at an internment camp where Anthony is held.

Drug addiction resulting from mental and physical war injuries is sensitively written as are other issues. The nature descriptions are lovely and the characters are relatably very human. I like that war repercussions including grief are not glossed over.

My sincere thank you to Aria & Aries and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this engrossing novel.

This is the story of Kitty Flynn who has to leave her home in Ireland to get away from her mother.Her brother Anthony is injured in the war so Kitty goes home to look after him.She becomes a nurse and is heard one day speaking in German to one of the patients.Somebody years Her and she is then sent to the German interment came to find things out too help them in the war.This story is inspired by real life events that happened.I loved this book from the start. Thank you to Netgalley and Aria and Aries.

Wow, what a wonderful and emotional story set during the Second World War in Ireland. Kitty Flinn is returning home to Kilkenny after spending some time away in London. She doesn't want to return home as dark memories of what happened in her past haunt her, but with her brother Anthony needing looking after she finds herself back at her old home, struggling to keep the past behind her. Kitty tries to help her brother, but it's soon clear that someone knows secrets about both Anthony and Kitty's pasts and they're threatening to expose them. Kitty will do everything it takes to keep her brother safe, but how far will she have to go, and just who wants to expose them?

This is such a great story which I enjoyed from the first pages. Kitty has a complicated past, having run away from Ireland after the birth and immediate death of her baby. With her and Anthony also having had a difficult relationship with their own mother, Kitty really doesn't want to go back to Kilkenny. At first, when she settles back into life there, getting a job and finding out how her brother is, we see her struggle to deal with being back and interacting with some of the people of the town But as the story moves on we see it becoming more complicated as Kitty soon needs to start raising more money to support her brother.

The book is set in a few places in Ireland and I found it so interesting to read as I didn't know much about the history of Ireland during WWII. The book begins with a prologue which is interesting and explains a bit of background to Ireland's independence at the time and the issues that came about from this, before following Kitty as she narrates her story. As Kitty tries to raise money and works hard she worries about her brother and you can feel her emotions and complex thoughts as she narrates. I love the way the atmosphere of the surroundings is described, especially when showing us the more rural locations. It makes you feel the beauty as well as the sometimes more eerie setting of the story.

A lot happens in this book. Kitty is a strong character and I love how she's determined to help her brother no matter what. The story moves between different places, Kilkenny, Nass, Dublin and also later a camp for German and British prisoners. There are lots of interesting characters and I like how they all feel real. James and Alice are wonderful characters and I like how eerie and contrasting some of the other are. The story builds up to a brilliant and exciting ending. There are some good revelations and twists, especially at the end when we discover more about one particular character. I do love how I didn't guess most of these surprises and didn't know how the story would go. The ending is so satisfying, the last chapter having another revelation and such a heartwarming end that I couldn't stop smiling after reading this.

The book does have a little violence in it, nothing graphic but there are a few instances of violence as well as obvious hatred towards certain people. There are very occasional uses of the f and s swear words too. During the acknowledgements you do find out a few interesting things about how this book is a mixture of fact and fiction and I do love how this story shows more than just a story about people in Ireland in the war, but also features characters with disabilities, one character in particular has what seems to be autism which is portrayed well, as well as showing the fear that surrounded homosexuals at the time.

Overall this has been a wonderful and emotional read. The story is so good, I never wanted to stop reading after I picked this up, and it gives you an insight into what life was like in Ireland during WWII. The ending is perfect and I'm sure anyone who loves books set in WWII will love to read this. I can't recommend it enough! :)

Katie Flynn had escaped from her mothers’ clutches and is now living in London as nurse when she receives a letter from home that her mother is dead, and her brother is very sick after coming home from the war. Her brother is her last living relative, and he hasn’t got anyone else, so she returns home to care for him. But when she returns home to Ireland who is neutral in the current war. She finds out that her brother is being blackmailed for his homosexuality. So, to pay the blackmailer she takes on a job as a nurse’s maid to pay them off. But when commandant Doolin hears her talk German to one of the prisoners in the hospital she is asked to become a translator and to read the letters that the prisoners are sending back home.
The is another emotional read from the author that I really enjoyed, and it told me things I wasn’t aware of with Ireland’s involvement in WW2. 4 stars from me.

Kitty Flynn has been making a new life for herself in London after escaping her mother, and her wicked ways. When family circumstances call for her to return to help her brother Anthony who was injured in the war, she has no idea of the extent of his problems. Kitty decides to look for work to try to help them out and is delighted to be taken on at the hospital as a Nurses Aide. While going through the corridors she is met by Frank Doolin who has heard Kitty speaking German to one of the patients, when Doolin demands to know how she speaks such fluent German she explains that she was brought up by a German mother, will this satisfy him or does he have an ulterior motive!
Kitty finds solace with her landlady Alice who is so kind, and her son Peter for his innocence. Alice helps Kitty look at life differently and to make wise choices.
I have to say I wasn’t sure at first but the more I read the more I enjoyed it. There were some great characters, Com Doolin, father Fitzpatrick, Sam and my favourite Kitty. Loved the twists, didn’t see that coming.

Love a family saga! This book had it all!! Was good to read about Ireland in the war not a lot of books on it out there. Worth a read

An enjoyable read with believable characters. An interesting look at the involvement of Ireland in the Second World War that doesn’t seem to get much attention. A great emotional and informative read.

Firstly thank you Netgalley for this Arc

What an emotional book set in Ireland and London . You feel that you are Kitty at times when you get engrossed in the book

Family saga and wartime brilliant