Plot:

London, 1941. Emmeline Lake and her best friend Bunty are trying to stay cheerful despite the Luftwaffe making life thoroughly annoying for everyone. Emmy dreams of becoming a Lady War Correspondent and when she spots a job advertisement in the newspaper she seizes her chance – but after a rather unfortunate misunderstanding, she finds herself typing letters for the formidable Henrietta Bird, the renowned agony aunt of Woman’s Friend magazine.

Mrs Bird is very clear: letters containing any form of Unpleasantness must go straight into the bin. But as Emmy reads the desperate pleas from women who may have Gone Too Far with the wrong man, or can’t bear to let their children be evacuated, she decides the only thing for it is to secretly write back . . .

Irresistibly funny and enormously moving, Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce is a love letter to the enduring power of friendship, the kindness of strangers and the courage of ordinary people in extraordinary times.

Review:

“Find out what you’re good at and then get even better. That’s key”

As we are going through a global pandemic, it is interesting to read a novel about times of war because situations such as almost leaving your gas mask at the train station is relatable to us in 2020 and 2021 where this is now the new thing of remembering to bring your face masks with you everywhere and sanitising wherever you go. We are in a war of our own today in order to surprise.

During the first few chapters I felt so relatable to the main character Emmy because of her characteristics. She aspires to do a lot with her life and to make a difference in people’s life’s. So when one of her superiors tell her:

“Find out what you’re good at and then get even better. That’s key”

That relates to all of us especially now when a lot of us are suffering. You should always try to focus on the things you enjoy as well as the things you’re good at because these may not go hand in hand with each other. It is what makes life worth living.

When Emmy quits a perfectly good job to follow what she thought was her dreams it seems as if everything is going well until she discovers the job is not exactly what she expected. Then, she makes do with what she has. Mrs. Bird the lady she has to listen to is very rude as she will not allow Emmy to answer people’s letters who really need the help and advice they need. Instead Emmy is left to answer silly questions such as how to deal with arm fat. It begins to bug her and that is where the story gets real interesting.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read as it was full of adventure and development. The best kind of novels.

5/5 Stars