Book Review for The Lost English Girl by Julia Kelly

 The Lost English Girl by Julia Kelly

Genre:  WWII, Historical Fiction, British Literature

Publication: March 7th 2023 by Gallery Books

 

Taken from Goodreads:  Liverpool, 1935: Raised in a strict Catholic family, Viv Byrne knows what’s expected of her: marry a Catholic man from her working-class neighborhood and have his children. However, when she finds herself pregnant after a fling with Joshua Levinson, a Jewish man with dreams of becoming a famous Jazz musician, Viv knows that a swift wedding is the only answer. Her only solace is that marrying Joshua will mean escaping her strict mother’s scrutiny. But when Joshua makes a life-changing choice on their wedding day, Viv is forced once again into the arms of her disapproving family.

Five years later and on the eve of World War II, Viv is faced with the impossible choice to evacuate her young daughter, Maggie, to the countryside estate of the affluent Thompson family. In New York City, Joshua gives up his failing musical career to serve in the Royal Air Force, fight for his country, and try to piece together his feelings about the family, wife, and daughter he left behind at nineteen. However, tragedy strikes when Viv learns that the countryside safe haven she sent her daughter to wasn’t immune from the horrors of war. It is only years later, with Joshua’s help, that Viv learns the secrets of their shared past and what it will take to put a family back together again.

Telling the harrowing story of England’s many evacuated children, bestselling author Julia Kelly’s The Lost English Girl explores how one simple choice can change the course of a life, and what we are willing to forgive to find a way back to the ones we love and thought lost.

 

My Thoughts:  How does a mother make the decision to send her daughter to strangers to keep her safe from the horrors of war?  

 Viv broke my heart.  She is a strong character for making the choices she did and being able to continue to live her life.   She never let Maggie get far from her heart and knew that she could never give up hope.   She was forced to live a life without support and love but she some how knew how to love her daughter with her whole heart, she made every decision based on what would be best for Maggie. 

 Any war, but I read mostly about WWII, is horrible.   The choices the families are forced to make, the horrors that they are forced to live through, and the way the war will affect their lives forever are something I am happy to have never lived through.  The Lost English Girl tells of that life.    It brought to life a mother’s love during a war and the lengths that she will go to just to keep her daughter safe. 

 I will give The Lost English Daughter 5 sparkling stars. 

 Thank you Gallery Books for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

 

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Meet Julia Kelly (Taken from her website):  Julia Kelly is the international bestselling author of historical women's fiction books about the extraordinary stories of the past. Her books have been translated into 13 languages. She has also written historical romance. In addition to writing, she’s been an Emmy-nominated producer, journalist, marketing professional, and (for one summer) a tea waitress. Julia called Los Angeles, Iowa, and New York City home before settling in London.

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