Another great evening with the book club discussing Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce. Of the debut novels we've read so far, this is considered one of the best. Everyone agreed this was an interesting read, the book was also brought to life by Susan bringing some information about her father's time with the fire service in London during the war; a central element of the book's plot. A few readers found the book difficult to get into at first. As Sandy said on Facebook: "The book had a disappointing start but turned out to be a good read; never judge a book by the first few lines." Victoria agreed, saying it looked like typical chick lit at first, but the underlying story was far from a fluffy one. We agreed the war on the Home Front was shown to be grim and if we faced those conditions we're not sure if we'd have coped so well, especially as war duties were often in addition to holding down a job.
We scored this book 7.5 out of 10. The next read is Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore.