Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be hosting today's stop on The Waterway Girls Blog Tour
 |
| Arrow 7 September 2017 |
October 1943, West London
Nineteen-year-old Polly Holmes is
leaving poor bombed London behind to join the war effort on Britain’s canals.
Stepping aboard the Marigold amid
pouring rain, there’s lots for Polly to get to grips with. Not least her fellow crew:
strong and impetuous Verity, whose bark is worse than her bite, and seasoned skipper
Bet.
With her sweetheart away fighting
in the RAF and her beloved brother killed in action, there’s plenty of heartache to be
healed on the waterway. And as Polly rolls up her sleeves and gets stuck into life
on board the narrow boat – making the gruelling journey London up to Birmingham – she
will soon discover that a world of new beginnings awaits amid the anguish of the
war.
My thoughts
When nineteen year old Polly Holmes
leaves her home in bombed out London and joins a female crew of canal boat
operatives in October 1943, she is little prepared for the changes that this decision
will bring to her life. At first, due to an uncomfortable feud with Verity, a fellow
crew member, Polly struggles to become accustomed to life on the canal. But
gradually, under the watchful eye of skipper, Bet, the young crew members start
to work together as a team and the arduous journey of taking the narrow boat from
London to Birmingham is filled with excitement and adventure.
In The Waterway Girls the author brings
together a group of feisty young women and describes vividly the hardships and trepidation
that accompanied them on their canal journey. Life was tough, not just for the
women who were recruited by the Ministry of Transport’s waterways training scheme,
but also for the established canal folk who had, for so long, made the canal
systems their home. Tensions run high and for Polly, Bet and Verity life on the
canal is never without its complications.
Before reading this novel, I was
unaware of the WW2 initiative of training women to crew canal boats in order to
keep freight and other cargo on the move during the worst of the war years.
Rather as the Land Girls kept the agricultural side of things going, so the
Waterway Girls ensured that cargo and merchandise travelled safely from depot
to destination, often in hazardous conditions.
I think that the author captures time
and place really well and combines the descriptions of eventful life on the
canals with the personal stories of the crew members. There is
heartache a plenty ahead of them, but there is also a sense of hopefulness, as
they each become accustomed to a new way of life.
The Waterway Girls is the start
of a new saga series by this author and I am sure it will appeal to her many fans.
Milly Adams lives in
Buckinghamshire with her husband, dog and cat. Her children live nearby. Her
grandchildren are fun, and lead her astray. She insists that it is that way
round.
Milly Adams is also the author of Above Us The Sky and Sisters At War.
Follow the tour on Twitter #TheWaterwayGirls
@arrowpublishing
Do visit the other blog tour stops
My thanks to Becky at Penguin Random House for the invitation to be part of this blog tour and also for my review copy of The Waterway Girls.
~***~
I love the sound of this Jo, it takes many boxes for me as I love wartime sagas and I'd love to stay on a canal boat. Will check out this new series.
ReplyDeleteSo glad that this one piques your interest. Enjoy x
Delete