Summer Read ~ Come Rain or Shine by Pam Weaver

Pan Books
13 June 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

1947. Cousins Veronica (Ronnie) and Sheila are given the opportunity to run their grandfather’s business, a local garage, in Worthing. Ronnie’s ne’er-do-well brother Leslie is furious – as the man of the family, he believes the business is rightfully his. But their grandmother is adamant that Leslie is not to be trusted . . .

After serving in the ATS in the war, Sheila is a trained mechanic, while Ronnie discovers she has a talent for numbers and a shrewd business head. Despite the garage having run into huge debts in the previous years, the girls are determined to make it work.

Initially filled with enthusiasm, Sheila and Ronnie are shocked by the challenges they face, as well as dealing with their own heartache and loss. But come rain or shine, can true friendship withstand even the fiercest of storms?

What did I think about it...

Come Rain or Shine looks at how women stepped up in the years after the Second World War ended and continued the traditional male roles which didn't always sit very easily, especially for those men who were resentful of women doing, essentially, a man's job. But with their grandfather's car repair business struggling, cousins Ronnie (Veronica) and Sheila are given the opportunity by their grandmother to run the garage as Sheila, having learned car mechanics in the ATS, and Ronnie, with a head for numbers are both ideally suited to make a success of the business. However, Ronnie's brother, Leslie, is absolutely livid as he feels that the business should his by rights and seems determined to bring trouble to the girls.

What then follows is a family saga which looks at the petty squabbles and unwarranted jealousies which can soon fester and cause deep rifts. Ronnie and Sheila do their best to carry on, both nursing their own troubles, but when they also discover a long buried family secret it makes their lives even more complicated, and yet, it opens up a side of their family which they never knew existed.

Come Rain or Shine is the story of two strong and determined young women who made the best of what life threw at them and who survived against the odds, always hoping for happiness around the corner. As always, the author  takes the reader on a wonderful journey into a bygone time, she writes with a natural ability and brings place and people alive with warmth and compassion. Her knowledge of this historical period and of the local area around Worthing is exemplary and she always makes her characters so believable that they could be your own relatives who have popped up to say 'hello'.

Come Rain or Shine is published by Pan Books and is out now in paperback and ecopy and is a perfect read for an afternoon in the garden with a nice cup of tea.

About the Author

Pam's saga novels are set in Worthing during the austerity years. Pam's inspiration comes from her love of people and their stories and her passion for the town of Worthing. With the sea on one side and the Downs on the other, Worthing has a scattering of small villages within its urban sprawl, and in some cases tight-knit communities, making it an ideal setting for the modern saga.

You can discover more about Pam's bestselling sagas by clicking here

Twitter@panmacmillan

His Fic Saturday ~ Pam Weaver

 On Hist Fic Saturday I am delighted to welcome to the blog, best selling author

Pam Weaver

It's a real thrill to have Pam as my guest on the blog today sharing her thoughts about why she writes historical fiction..

My mother was a great story teller. I grew up listening to her tales from the past. Neither of us realised but she was doing the foundation work upon which I would start to build my reputation. I would listen to the same story over and over again and never get tired or bored. She’d create the scene, explain the dilemma, build the story to a crescendo but always leave me with a satisfying conclusion. 

Was story telling in my genes? The truth is, I have no idea. My mother adopted me. 

My mother was born in 1912 and life was very different back then. However her story telling was so vivid I felt like I could have been there. I quickly learned that no matter when we are born, we all have the same dreams, the same aspirations and the same longing to be loved and accepted. Because I loved her, I was always rooting for her in the stories she told. I felt the same indignation, the same pain of insult, the same frustration or the same glow of romance as she spoke. It was only as I grew older, I realised that as a child of the 1950’s and 60’s my attitudes and opinions were shaped in a different forge. It wasn’t long before I would cry, ‘You never should have put up with that, Mum,’ or ‘I would have told her to sling her hook.’ And she would just smile and say, ‘That’s the way things were back then.’

I never did have any great love for the dry facts of history but I am fascinated by the people. What made them tick? Why did they accept patterns of behaviour that we would never condone nowadays? When I write, it’s great fun to imagine myself in the same room as my character, but thanks to the years of listening to those often repeated stories, I know I have to be very careful to leave my 21st century mind, attitude and conditioning away from the page. 

In my first book, my character stayed with her pig of a husband and tried to make the best of it. A reader told me that she’d lost patience with her. ‘What an absolute wimp!’ she complained angrily. ‘Why on earth didn’t she just walk out on him?’ I would say, the answer to that question is simple. 

In this day and age, any wife leaving her husband can find support outside the marital home. The women of my mother’s generation had no such luxuries. A woman couldn’t even rent a flat without the signature of a male guarantor on the agreement. The man might be her local doctor or bank manager but I would hazard a guess that those men would be far more likely to tell her to go back home and be a dutiful wife, than they would be willing to stand surety for her. And if she had children - Oh, don’t get me started on that one!

There’s been plenty written about kings and queens or notables in high places but I’m more interested in the unrecorded people of history and the ordinary women who in turn became extraordinary – like my mother. I my humble opinion, they were the ones who really won the war. The men may have been fighting, but the women kept the country going, brought up the next generation and found a strength of character which is still much admired. To fully comprehend what that meant, as I write, I try to immerse myself in their times. And what fun that can be.

We are lucky enough to have a wealth of research material at our fingertips. The Internet, the local library, and old newspapers have given me a real insight into the ordinary life of the time. Added to that, the rest of the world and his wife have written their memoirs. Best of all, I love talking to the people from that generation. It’s wonderful when they’re in full flow and then they say something in all innocence which gives me a real insight into their lives. I remember a 90 year old telling me that during the war, all the petrol they used on the farm was tainted pink. ‘If you were caught using pink petrol in your car,’ she went on, ‘you’d be in big trouble.’ 

‘Oh that didn’t bother us,’ scoffed her 93 year old friend sitting next to her. ‘We used to filter our petrol through the gas mask. When it came out the other end, it was normal colour.’

What a gem! And yes, I did use it in a book. 

So why do I write historical fiction? First and foremost because I love it and then because you learn something new all the time. 

About the Author

Pam Weaver is a bestselling author of saga novels set in Worthing, including There’s Always Tomorrow, Better Days Will Come, Pack Up Your Troubles, For Better For Worse, Blue Moon and Love Walked Right In. Pam’s inspiration comes from her love of people and their stories and her passion for the town where her novels are set. She is married with two grown-up daughters and lives in Worthing.

Here's more about Pam's latest novel

Sing Them Home

Pan Macmillan
June 2018

A German aircraft crashes into a house in Worthing, and causes complete devastation to the local community. Three strangers meet for the first time that day – Pip, Stella and Lillian. Lillian’s little girl Flora has been hurt in the crash and is rushed to hospital. As she comes through her ordeal, she finds her mother and her two new ‘aunties’ by her bedside.

The three new friends quickly bond over shared experiences; all their husbands are overseas in the fighting forces. They also have the same love of singing and soon form The Sussex Sisters, Worthing’s answer to the Andrews Sisters, to boost morale in in dance halls and canteens all over the south coast.

When D-Day finally arrives, it’s the promise of a brighter future they have all been longing for. But the men that return home are altogether different from the husbands they waved off. How will they respond to their wives’ new-found fame? How will the women live alongside these distant, damaged men? With secrets, revelations and surprises on the horizon, the friends will need each other more than ever.

Huge thanks to Pam for being such  a lovely guest on my blog today and for sharing her love of writing historical fiction with us.

You can discover more about Pam's bestselling sagas by clicking here

Blog Tour ~ Always In My Heart by Pam Weaver

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be hosting today's stop on the 


Always In My Heart Blog Tour

Pan Macmillan
15 June 2017

What's the story all about...

1939. When war is declared, fifteen-year-old twins Shirley and Tom are evacuated from London to the coastal town of Worthing in Sussex by their mother to keep them safe. Shirley is bright and resourceful – her brother gentle and slow to understand the world around him. When the twins are taken in by local farmer Gilbert, their new home quickly proves to be far from a rural dream. They are forced to labour all day and prevented from contacting home, while Gilbert’s pregnant wife lives in fear of him. Meanwhile, their mother Florrie has stayed in London to be treated for tuberculosis, and the arrival of an unexpected visitor brings back painful memories from the past to haunt her… 

As winter sets in on the farm, Shirley discovers Gilbert is hiding a deadly secret. Will she be able to find a way out for everyone?

And can the power of family bonds help them to survive their ordeal and reunite with their mother at last?

I'm really thrilled to be able to share with you today this exclusive extract from 

Always in My Heart by Pam Weaver

The birth of Janet Oliver’s baby.

Mr Oliver came to the stairs and shouted up at Shirley.

‘Stay where you are, Gilbert Oliver,’ said Granny Roberts. ‘This is no place for a man.’

‘What’s going on?’ he said. ‘What are you doing in my house, you interfering old bid—’ Having reached the landing, he could see the three of them: Janet panting slightly, Granny Roberts mopping her brow with a piece of muslin and Shirley putting down the tea tray.

‘The girl’s having her baby,’ Granny said coldly.

Mr Oliver seemed slightly flummoxed, but then he said, ‘Tell her to hurry up, then. I need a hand with the milking in the morning.’ He pointed a finger at Shirley. ‘And you – get back downstairs.’

‘I need her here,’ said Granny Roberts. She seemed totally unfazed by Mr Oliver’s belligerent attitude. ‘I’m not so young as I used to be. I need the girl with me.’

Mr Oliver opened his mouth to say something, but at the same time Janet cried out as another pain came. He didn’t stay. They heard him clattering his way downstairs, and shortly after that, the back door slammed.

Janet’s little girl was born at eight forty-five. Mr Oliver had been back a couple of times to demand help in the milking parlour, but each time Granny Roberts sent him packing. When she told him the baby had been born, he made no attempt to come up and see her. Shirley washed the baby as Granny Roberts said her hands weren’t so good because of the arthritis. If seeing the baby emerge into the world wasn’t amazing enough, giving her a bath in a bowl of warm water was the most fantastic thing Shirley had ever experienced. She felt an instant link with the child, and the fact that it was December 17th and so close to Christmas made it feel all the more special.

At around ten o’clock, Shirley went back downstairs. Mother and baby were sleeping and Granny Roberts was anxious to get back home to her husband. They put the afterbirth on the fire, and the towels went into the scullery sink to soak in Drummer Boy Blue until Shirley could light the copper and give them a good boil. It had been a long night for all of them, but they felt contented. Granny Roberts said it was good to feel useful again, and even Tom was happy. He’d been working flat out in the milking parlour. Lucky it was Sunday and there was no school. Trudging to the village after the night they’d all had would have been a hard task. Shirley prepared breakfast for everybody. They were all ravenous.

‘Aren’t you going upstairs to see the baby?’ Granny Roberts asked Mr Oliver as Shirley offered to walk her home.

‘What fer?’ he said, pulling on his jacket. ‘One baby is much the same as another.'

About the Author

Pam Weaver was partly inspired to write her latest book Always in My Heart by the discovery of her secret half-brother.They unknowingly grew up together in the same village, as her mother had an affair with an American GI in 1944, and she was raised by a neighbour. 

Pam's saga novels, There's Always Tomorrow, Better Days Will Come, Pack Up Your Troubles, For Better For Worse and Love Walked Right In, are set in Worthing during the austerity years.

Pam's inspiration comes from her love of people and their stories, and her passion for the town of Worthing.

My thanks to the author and her publishers, Pan Macmillan, and also to Bethan at edpr

for the invitation to join in with this Blog Tour and also for their kind permission to share this 

exclusive extract from Always in my Heart

Always in My Heart by Pam Weaver is out now from Pan Macmillan (£6.99 paperback) 

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