I think this book was written for me. I was immediately drawn in by the title—a reference to Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell—and then was delighted to learn that the plot revolves around Fran, a Jewish girl living in Montreal in the 1940s, who is starring in a stage adaptation of Cranford. Because parts of the book are written in a diary format, it reminded me of a more grown-up version of the Dear America series, while Fran felt a bit like a Lucy Maud Montgomery heroine. I found Ravel's writing homey and nostalgic, and I really appreciated her depictions of 17-year-old girls in the 1940s as young girls who are teetering between adult responsibilities and more juvenile interests and dreams. I also loved that almost all of the characters are Jewish and their Jewishness is normalized—the narrator doesn't point it out, but rather leaves it to the reader to pick up on hints throughout the book.

I loved it. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A story in America during WWII. Fran is a stage star and her boyfriend has been stationed in Canada. As they both struggle, the truth comes to light….

I'm not sure if this book was intended for a younger audience, but I was left disappointed. I was expecting historical fiction and got teenage melodrama. It was an easy read...I finished it in a day, but the plot felt like something that has been done before. There were lots of random quotes and poems in the text making the actual content very short. The ending felt predictable and trite.