I was so excited to read this book based on the premise. Maybe I went in with too high of expections but it fell just a little bit short for me. The storyline was good and I enjoyed it, it just didn’t keep me pulled in like some books I’ve read. Definitely one to read though!

Emmeline is living with her family in London at the start of WWII. Lydia is evacuated and then Emmeline and her son are later evacuated to a different part of England. She’s at loose ends without her family, so she decides to open up a Wartime Nursery with the help of friends and the family she’s living with.


I enjoyed Emmeline and her battle to open up a nursery during WWII. It was an interesting battle as it was also a battle for women’s rights during that time, by people who felt that women should stay at home. Her daughter, Lydia was a weird duck. She was so superficial and self-involved, even though it improved at the end. This was an interesting perspective from those evacuated to the countryside and their relationships with their new families.


Thanks to @bookouture,@netgalley and the author for this ARC

I am loving all of the World War 2 fiction novels which is coming out at the moment ..... this is one of my favourite time period. Lizzie Page was a new author to me and I really enjoyed her writing style and the way that her narratives flow naturally in the setting that she has chosen. She has characters which feel as if she has picked real people and written about them ... even though I knew this was fiction. They develop in a natural way that is not forced and disjointed like can be seen sometimes. I will be going back and reading the first book in this series and then move on with this once the newer ones become available.

The Wartime Nursery by Llizzie Page is heart-rending, compelling, poignant and so accurate for the human experience of the evacuees and their families in WWII

Emmeline and her daughter Lydia have been eveacuated from London, leaving behind Emmelines husband, Neville (I must admit that I absolutely despised him!) However, Emmeline is evacuted to Norfolk with her young son Matthew and Lydia to Somerset. The family is fragmented and Emmeline adrift. She decides to open a nursery to help the mothers of the land army by taking care of their children while they are at work helping with the war effort. However, setting up a nursery on your own is difficult, especially when local politics and the heart becomes involved

A wartime novel that broke my heart and warmed it in equal measure. I will certainly be reading the prior book in the series.

Thank you to Bookouture, Netgalley and Lizzie Page for this ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

The Wartime Nursery is the second book in The Wartime Evacuees series by Lizzie Page. It can be read as a standalone but I would suggest not missing out on book one A Child Far From Home which tells Valerie’s story. This time around the story focuses on Lydia and her mother Emmeline. Lydia, Valerie and Francine and their families all live in flats in one building in London. War has broken out and the parents are fearful as to what may happen if the Nazi’s invade and the promised bombing commences. The girls are evacuated to Somerset and so sets in motion an entire new life for them. By the end of the book the reader is left thinking that if the war had not occurred how very different things would have turned out for each of the girls. They would not have had the experiences they did, nor met the people who go on to have a profound influence on them. The same can be easily said for the mothers.

As with the first book, I’ll admit I found the first half quite slow going with not much occurring and there was in my opinion some repetition. But around the midpoint things began to pick up pace and my opinion of characters changed, and I found myself becoming more invested in the unfolding story. The chapters are not overly long in any sense of the word and alternate between Lydia and Emmeline. Lydia finds herself in a really nice set up in Bumble Cottage in the heart of Somerset. She is staying with Mrs Howard who has a son Paul who is away at school and visits only on occasion. Every need of Lydia’s is tended to and she has a wonderful experience in the countryside far from the bombs raining down upon the city. It’s an entire new life for her. She is comfortable and cared for and receives a good education but for some reason I just couldn’t take to her at all.

I found Lydia to be quite spoilt in a way and yes what she was going through was completely different from her mother’s wartime experiences but still the gulf that grew between them I didn’t like. It’s like Lydia now looked as if her family were beneath her and that she felt her life was now made and she was set up forever and would never return to her family. She was a complicated character and really her actions later on in the book did little to endear her to me. I say this because I know what happened in book one and how Lydia’s actions impacted someone else’s life. On the one hand I was happy that she was safe but as the years passed the distance between herself and Emmeline grew ever wider and I felt the mother daughter bond should have been strengthened rather than widened. After all they do say absence makes the heart grow fonder and this could have applied in this situation. Towards the end she does redeem herself when push comes to shove but by this stage and for most of the book I was much more on Emmeline’s side. I found her character development to be stronger and far more interesting. I loved how the book started off being about evacuees during the war but turned its focus on the parents and women and how the role of women changed significantly at the time. That’s what was highlighted and one of the main themes of the book and it was done very well.

Initially, I found Emmeline to be weak and dare I say it a bit whingy. I understood completely that she was desperately missing her daughter and longed to have the family unit back together but at the same time I thought oh gather yourself together a bit. This is a storm that needs to be weathered and how you emerge out the other side is completely up to you. Make the best of a bad situation and deal with it and I am glad to say that is what she does. Although the journey is far from trouble free but the outcome proves to be a positive and life enhancing one for her. Emmeline has remained in London with her young son Matthew who is too young to be evacuated but as the danger grows ever closer, Neville, Emmeline’s husband, insists she evacuate too. He will remain in London as he works for a newspaper. Neville didn’t feature too heavily but when he did he made a significant impact and at times I thought Emmeline was in fear of him. I would have loved for her to stand up for herself more in relation to Neville and to break free from him if she could. Similar to Lydia, Emmeline goes through a major transformation when she is evacuated to Norwich and given a place to stay with an MP, Mr Davenport and his wife. For quite some time the chapters with Emmeline in Norwich were repetitive just detailing how she spent the days trying to stay out of the house with Matthew. I did think this can’t go on like this we need an injection of some action or excitement.

There mightn’t have been anything significantly dramatic or exciting but still as previously mentioned the book did turn a corner, I felt at the half way mark. Emmeline changed and far from being meek she started to display a different side to her personality and that underneath the person longing to be reunited with Lydia was someone who realised that they could turn things around and do something for women. That women in the times of war and hopefully much further ahead into the future could and could do remarkable things outside the home. When Emmeline meets Dot and Christine who also have been evacuated it was like as if she shed her old London skin and took on an entire new persona. I loved that she had the guts to go forth with her plan to set up a nursey for young children which would allow their mothers to go and work in local factories and therefore contribute to the war effort. We take all of that for granted these days and it was interesting and informative to read of their origins.

Emmeline faced stiff opposition and she wasn’t to be worn down. From this point the chapters flew by as did the years and I thought it was good that we saw a real evolving of the characters on a personal and professional level. Some romance does come into play and god was it bittersweet the way it turned out. I was hoping for something different but Lizzie Page didn’t conform to what could have been typical of a book of this nature and it can be hard to stick to your guns like that despite what readers may long for. Running the nursery gave Emmeline a life of stimulation and purpose and also allowed other women to feel the same way. She became much more tenacious, practical and strong and it was as if she was born to do this role all her life.

The Wartime Nursery was a good, light read full of heartache and tragedy. It’s a story of growth and change thanks to the war. Book three, The Wartime Mother, will see the conclusion to the series and Francine’s story will be told which I am really interested to see what happened to her as it appeared as if she had dropped off the face of the earth. In the meantime this is a relaxing and informative read that many readers will happily spend a few hours indulging in.

This is the second book in a series, but the first I have read. I don't feel that I was missing anything by not having read the previous book though.

The Wartime Nursery has a whole host of diverse characters. Some of whom were totally unlikeable, and with a sense of realism they were just as unlikeable by the end.

I loved Emmeline's strength in going against the expectations of the time, and setting up a nursery so that their mothers can work. Emmeline had her own struggles at the same time. From her unhappy marriage, to her difficult relationship with her daughter. Expectations of women were very different in those days. I think sometimes we forget how recently things have changed, although I do wonder if things haven't swung too far the other way and women are expected to work even if they want to be at home whilst their children are small.

I've been a single Mum for most of my children's lives, so the struggles of balancing home, life and childcare is one I know well. And that was without a war, or society expecting me to stay at home.

Overall this was a lovely, uplifting read about the adversities women face, set against the well known backdrop of world war 2.

Hope for Mothers

Emmeline is evacuated during the war because of the bombing in London. She finds after being evacuated that many of the evacuated mothers struggle with boredom and loneliness in a strange place away from their homes and families.

Emmeline fights the council to start a wartime nursery so the evacuated mothers can either go to work or they can have a respite from the children for a few hours a day. With the help of a wealthy member of parlement she is given funding for the nursery.

In a strange place the mothers often feel overwhelmed on their own with children and no help from a spouse that is back in London miles away. The war interferes with lives and relationships. Some have losses of family members; some marriages do not survive.

These mothers need some help and Emmeline, although having marital problems herself, is determined to make it a bit easier for these mothers.

I do understand why Emmeline started the nursery and also her marriage problems and why she was attracted to someone else. I applaud her values.

I didn’t especially like the character her daughter played as a spoiled young lady and the choices that she made, nor the way she treated her mother.

It was a good story, not so much about the war, but related to it. It was more about those that were evacuated and her own family drama.

I enjoyed reading it.

I received a copy of the book for free. The review and the words are my own.

Thank you for the chance to read this ARC in return for my honest opinion.

I had read the first book in the series but to be honest it had not stayed in my mind and it took a while for me to realise this whilst reading this one. Not sure what that says.

This book in a way was heartbreaking, heartwarming and sad.

We had met Valerie in Book 1 and knew her back story - which was not particularly drawn upon in this book so perhaps as a stand-alone the context was lost. This book centred around Lydia.

Centred being the correct word. It must have taken some skill to be able to make such a selfish self-centred character. She really was not likeable at all. One wonders where she attained the morals she did to do what she did especially to poor Paul.

Lydia evacuated to Somerset, her mother and brother evacuated to Norfolk to give Neville carte-Blanche to have his own affair in London.
Emmeline must have been devastated to have found out especially as she had realised what a loveless marriage she had.
As was the norm at the time she did exactly what her husband decreed.
Except while in Norfolk she saw the need for respite for mothers either evacuated or who wanted or needed war work and set up a nursery for the babies/infants. I felt for the widow with 3 children under 3 when she was only in her early 20s herself.
Her own affair was mostly. In her mind and ended tragically.

This was a book of love, betrayal, hope, tragedy and what I imagine were wartime morals.
It was well written but somehow left a nasty taste if one thought about the outcomes of the book.
It will be interesting to see how the next book in the series brings the threads together and will be Francine’s story

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

the historical significant of a nursery being started during the war years so that everyone could do their bit wasnt lost on me i just wish that this storyline could have held my interest but i found some of the characters not very likeable at all...

on the whole though this book added to the historical part of war years in that women were being recognised for their contribution whatever part they had to play and its thanks to them that women have a much better role in society nowadays than before

As with all of Lizzie Page's books, this was a nice easy read. It was the story of Emmeline's life from during the war to the stage where she had grandchildren. It told how families were separated during the war and how hard it was for them, but came through it in varying ways in the end

2.5 stars
This one just didn’t hold my attention as much as other WW2 books. It seemed liked it should have ended much sooner that it did. The chapters about the last war years and afterwards really just dragged on and on.
* I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.*

Thank you to Bookouture and Lizzie Page for this ARC.

I love to mix up my reading genres throughout the month, so I was excited to dive into this historical fiction novel set in the 1940s during WWII. Focusing on Emmeline, a young wife in England, this novel follows her journey as she opens a nursery to help young mothers contribute to the war effort and provide a safe haven for children.

First, I did not like some characters, including Emmeline’s daughter and husband. They came off as selfish and ungrateful, which instantly turned me off. There is also no redemption arc (or not one done well), which adds to the novel's realism.

I also loved that the plot touched on women’s rights, relationship dynamics during the war, and homosexuality. I wish these issues had been explored even more, but I understand that the author was juggling a lot in one book.

I did not read the first book in this series, but I understood everything without an issue. Each book focuses on a different character, so they can be read as standalones, if preferred.

For a historical fiction novel, the pace was extremely steady. You can tell that Lizzie Page put a lot of time and research into this topic. Some twists keep the pace interesting, and the reveals are well-timed.

This book contains a great deal of heartache and tragedy. It certainly made me cry a few times, and I loved learning more about how nurseries were first formed in Britain during WWII. Overall, this is the perfect read for a gloomy day if you love WWII historical fiction or reading about strong women in history.

In this story, we follow Emmeline and her daughter, Lydia after they are both evacuated from London, due to the bombings.

Lydia is evacuated to Somerset, where she is well looked-after and has a wonderful education. She can’t forgive her mum for making her go, especially as her baby brother, Matthew, isn’t sent away as well. She tries not to spend much time with her family, even though she does miss them.

Emmeline’s husband insists on her and Matthew also being evacuated, and they go to Norfolk, as there is nowhere for her to go in Somerset.

When they arrive in Norfolk, she soon discovers that they are living with a local politician and his wife. Emmeline realises after a while that she has feelings for Lawrence, but resolves to keep them hidden, after all, she’s a married woman.

It takes Emmeline a while to settle in to her new life. She’s not alone, many of the other women evacuees are struggling too. She soon realises that they need a nursery for the children, as the women want to work and help with the war effort. Emmeline discovers she is a different person to the one she used to be, as she goes into battle to find a way to provide a nursery for the children.

This is the second book in the wartime evacuees series.

A heart-breaking but compelling story, I couldn’t put it down.

I loved all the characters in the story, and was invested in the relationship between Emmeline and her daughter, Lydia.

It was difficult to read about women being treated so badly back then, just mothers who should be at home looking after their families.

A powerful and poignant tale that will stay with me for a long time.

My thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

What a heartbreaking story! Not just because it’s based around the war, but also how messed up most of the relationships are.

I thought this book would be mostly focused on "a wartime nursery", and while a nice portion of it was, just about the same amount of the story was focused on the fmc's (who is married) desire for a married man.

The story focused way too much on teaching young girls about what they needed to do to attract eligible bachelors. Etiquette class teaching 10 year old girls about “sex appeal.” A few instances of grown men commenting on how pretty a young girl is. Children discussing adult situations like love affairs.

The fmc's daughter is selfish, shallow and manipulative, making it very hard to like her character. Her husband is self absorbed and shows no concern or care for his family.

There's a brief mention of rape, which is actually done by one of the men commenting on how pretty the girl is.

It is revealed that her husband had a relationship with another man while she and their young child were evacuated. She never addressed it and stayed with him.

The only reason I didn't give the book 1 star is because of how hard Emmeline fought to help when she saw a need and received resistance from people who didn't care. And I will give her credit for trying to have good morals and do the right thing.

In full disclosure, I did not read the first book in this series, however, my sense is that I did not lose anything.
While I tend to avoid WW II literature because I often find it too depressing, this book was uplifting. That is not to say that there were not sad moments, overall, the tone of the book was not distressed. Emmeline, a young wife during the blitz in England, opens a nursery. Although she sees the nursery as not merely a wartime device to help young mothers contribute to the war effort, but as a more permanent fixture to help women. Her position is not popular, and she must fight to keep the nursery open, even as the war is ongoing. Emmeline has two children of her own, a young boy and older girl, who lived with another family during the war, at first for safety reasons, and then because she wants to remain away. Emmeline has personal struggles too; a distanced relationship with her daughter and an unhappy marriage.
This was a compelling read that touched upon women's rights, relationships and homosexuality. I wish the novel had delved more into these issues as well as her relationship with her daughter than with her marriage. I really grew to dislike her daughter but then her daughter seemed to turn around at the end and this was not really explained; it was dispensed with rather quickly. There was so much there that I would have liked to have explored more.
Thanks to Net Galley and Bookouture for providing me with a copy of this ARC in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Captivating and tear jerking. The emotional story had me reading with tears streaming from my eyes and my heart was in my throat. I love how entranced I became obsessed with the plot and finding out how it would end!

This is the second book in the Wartime Evacuees series. I encourage you to read the first book in the series. Each book focuses on a different character.
This story is about Emmeline and how nurseries began during WWWII. What will one do to take care of the children while their mothers have to go to work to support the war?
Author, Lizzie Page, shows us the heartbreaking and emotional situations and sacrifices that had to be made by all.
What challenges were met by all.
What desperate measures had to be made.
What sacrifices happened.
A emotional, inspiring and uplifting story that will pull on your heartstrings.
Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

The next instalment about The Wartime Babies. Having spent the first one focusing on Valerie this one concentrated on Emmeline and her daughter Lydia who we met previously but learn more about in this book so it’s best to read them in order. A great storyline with different characters. Thanks to Lizzie and her publisher. Thanks also to NetGalley

This book follows the story of Emmeline and her daughter, Lydia. World War II has begun. Lydia has been evacuated to a lovely home in the country. Her mother is conflicted about sending her child from the city to live with another family while caring for Lydia's younger brother, Matthew, at home. Emmeline eventually removes herself and young Matthew from the city and moves in with a family outside of London. She struggles with her changing relationships with her daughter and her husband. She eventually puts her energies into creating a safe space for all mothers to find solace by setting up and creating nursery schools.

Lizzie Page’s books are heartwarming and endearing. She creates remarkable and fascinating stories that will have you researching to learn more about the historical events captured in each of her books. Her writing has a way of making you feel connected to the characters. I love getting lost in her books, and this series has been such a wonderful gift. I can’t wait for the next book in this series. Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for this SRC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Release Date: September 28, 2024
5 stars out of 5 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Wartime Nursery is the second book in the Wartime Evacuees. Lizzie Page has written so many wonderful WWII stories that involve children, The Wartime Nursery is the next one in line. It lives up to the standard she has set for stories that invest your heart early on as you are reading.

Beginning in London but soon moving to Norfolk where it is deemed safer for Emmeline, she looks for some way to help the struggling mothers there as well as the war effort. Her own daughter Lydia is at school so she is free to have ideas of starting a nursery school so mothers can work. This is 1940 and even though the country is at war there is opposition. This emotional story brings to heart the times and the people, especially the women. A heartwarming story that also highlights the relationship of Emmeline and her daughter Lydia. A wonderful story that clearly reminds us of the sacrifices made and the resiliency of the all who lived during that time of WWII.