Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book is the start of a new WWII series, and as with any introductory volume, this book introduced a ton of characters before whittling down the narrative to three women: Margaret, Lily, and Catherine. I really appreciated Catherine’s story the most since she came from wealth and is working for her father but doesn’t want anyone to know that. She wants to help out more with the war effort and her father allows her to work alongside the other workers instead of just being stuck in an office. Her story carries the most weight, as there is a really good character arc and a shocking conclusion to the book.

I absolutely love this kind of book and reminds me a bit like the Goodwill House series from Boldwood Books that I also enjoyed reading. As any good WWII fiction series, this one also shows the resilience and resourcefulness of the women who were left behind to work in place of the men, who were off fighting the Nazis. Women were busy back home helping the war effort in their own way. I’ll definitely be following along with this series. Highly recommend!

I fell in love with this story and the characters right away. Well written from the first page. I read it in one sitting.

Am i ready for a New wartime saga? Yes i am. Secrets, love, sisterhood, not only by blood, but also by choice. I gobbled it UP. I got to Know the community and the main charactersers. You Will love some of them, and others you Will dislike. A Great start to a New series. Thank you to netgalley for letting me read this e arc, in exchange for an honest opinion

A great read, this is going to be fantastic series, I really enjoyed meeting and getting to know all the characters, will definitely be looking for more.

Lily Catherine and Maggie join the great western railway to help with the war effort and become firm friends. They each have their own stories to tell but the become close.
Great book showing the great resilience woman showed in the Second World War and how Britain worked with the women keeping the home fires burning. Can’t wait for the next installement in the promising series.

Following the lives of Lily, Maggie, and Catherine, "The Great Western Railway Girls" was written against the backdrop of World War II.
As the war raged on, they forged unbreakable friendships while getting used to their newly found independence and defying society.
A must-read for historical fiction readers.
I had never heard of this author before, but I thought her writing was excellent, so I will check out more of her books.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from Netgalley. This was an engaging and enjoyable read. While I felt it was a bit slow at times, Lark wrote vividly and brought the reader into her world. While I liked the characters and was interested in their stories, I felt there were too many to properly get to know them; the story felt a bit jumbled as a result. However, I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading future ones by this author.

A great historical novel but it seemed to end so abruptly. One can only assume there will be a follow-on. If not then I'd feel cheated..

The great western railway girls, the first book in this new series, a good read with plenty of different characters. The story follows a group of young girls working at the GWR at the start of WW2, as the men are called up to fight the women have to take on their jobs in the factory, hard and dangerous work, the book follows their lives as they navigate their way through their work and home lives. A great book and already looking forward to the next in the series.

The Great Western Railway Girls by Jane Lark

A great saga , loved reading this WW2 genre about the girls and how during the war were expected to fill the shoes of men away fighting for the war . This was an interesting book to,read and lovely to find out the first in a series.
Can't wait to read the next instalment by this author.

An enjoyable easy read with likeable characters. I would have liked more about what they were doing in the factory and more about GWR (it could have been any factory throughout Britain in which the girls were working as I felt it lacked a link to GWR).

The storyline at the start of the book also seemed to chop and change quickly; the Jewish twins seemed to play a significant role in the book but were never mentioned again until we were told they had returned to London.

I also feel that every book set in wartime seems to have an unwanted pregnancy and it is very repetitive and boring for the reader. My Gran lived during this time and says she didn't know anyone who got themselves in this situation but authors today seem to portray someone on every street getting pregnant!

I would recommend the book to others and assume this is start of a series which I look forward to continuing to read.

Thank you to the publisher, NetGalley and author for allowing me to read an Arc copy and give my opinions.

At the beginning of WWII, the men left The Railway Village factories in Swindon, Britain, to go to war.
A group of young women decided to do their part to help with the war effort as well.
Maggie, Lily, Violet, Dot, Marjorie, and Catherine became The Great Western Railway Girls and the very best of friends.
This is the fantastic story of the Great Western Railway Girls: their families, lives, loves, and tragedies.
I wanted to stand up and cheer at the end of this book! It was brilliant.
I can't wait to read more from Jane Lark.
5 solid gold stars.

#TheGreatWesternRaileayGirls
#JaneLark
#Boldwood
#NetGalley

This is the first book of a new series and set just as war is declared in England. I call these set up books as we're getting to know the characters, there are a lot of them, the plot and the setting. The story follows five girls and their stories. Three of them have been friends a long time and two become part of the group when they start war work. One of them is keeping a secret and I enjoyed her story a lot. This is an open ended story but the finish stunned me!
It started off well and I was enjoying it but it lost me a bit along the way. The story could have been tightened up more, it sorted of rambled at times. There's a guy who chopped and changed his feelings and I couldn't get to grips with him at all. One nasty fella is mentioned a few times and I guess he'll make a more substantial appearance in the next book which I will read as I'd like to see what happens to them all.

Many thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

An entertaining a light hearted WWII homefront story of a group of young women that start to work in a factory at the beginning of the war. However, this book suffers with a major historical inaccuracy in that British soldiers never set foot in Poland before or after Dunkirk. Poland was overtaken by the Nazis in a matter of days, before England could mobilize troops.

Can their friendship carry them through hard times.
As we are introduced to the characters,
Lily Franklin, Maggie Abbot and Catherine Pearce and all the working women and men at Swindons great western railway works during WW2 war years.
This book is full of history.
As you learn their lives of work and play it really is an outstanding read.
Throughout the chapters you get pulled right into so much going on, leaving you content with happy and sad tales.
This is my first read by this author and won't be my last.
Love it.

Following the lives of young women as they navigate prejudice towards women taking “men’s” jobs when they leave too join up.
Lily is accustomed to harsh treatment from her father and is only too glad to escape his clutches, quite literally. Maggie comes from a house of women, having three sisters and Catherine who comes from a completely different background which she doesn’t want to divulge to the others, will she be found out?

I found it slow to get off the ground, but once it did I had to keep going.
At first I thought Maggie to be uncaring which changed as the story progressed.
I liked the way Naomi was introduced. There was some fascinating information re: the railways.
I do hope the author will do some more along these lines.

Thank you to NetGalley for a preview copy

Lovely war time story, really enjoyed it, nice easy read and loved how the different classes of people interacted, lovely characters, can’t wait to see what comes next in this series

Wonderful saga really enjoyed the working class and the rich mixing together.This was a pleasure to read looking forward to to more in this series and more by this author.

Firstly thank you Netgalley for this Arc

Wow lovied the book family saga, wartime just my kind of book
Loved how we have working class right up to the rich people and how their life’s intertwine

Oh wow.... One powerful story.
I love how it has every one from different classes in it from posh people like Catherine to working class like Maggie and violet to even lowerclass but making life better for her self Lilly.
I really liked how they all became friends and stayed friends even at the end of the book.
I really hope the series has a good ending and the characters get to live happily ever after. Can't wait for the next one