📖 Blog Tour ~ The Resistance Knitting Club by Jenny O’Brien

Storm
6 February 2026
Threads of Resistence #1

My thanks for the copy of the book
and invitation to the blog tour

Inspired by the true story of a woman who used knitting patterns to encode intelligence during World War Two.

Guernsey, 2010. After a stroke, an elderly woman shocks her family by speaking perfect French – a language they never knew she possessed. As her granddaughter unravels seventy years of silence, a hidden wartime story emerges...

Paris, 1941. After her brother is declared missing in action at Dunkirk, eighteen-year-old Lenny Gallienne vanishes into Churchill’s secret army. In a bookshop on Rue de la Pompe, she poses as a simple shop girl while encoding intelligence from Nazi headquarters into knitting patterns. Each sweater smuggled to prisoners contains flight paths. Each scarf holds radio frequencies. Each mistake means execution.

Fellow agent, Harry Dennison, is the only person who knows her real name. But when the Gestapo close in, Lenny faces an impossible choice in the Metro tunnels beneath Paris – one that will haunt her family for generations. Because in the resistance, the most dangerous secrets are the ones you keep from those you love most.

📖 My Review..

Seventy years of silence means that Leonora (Lenny) Galliene’s wartime secrets have never been revealed especially to her family who, after Lenny’s sudden illness, are surprised to realise that she can speak fluent French. During the momentous years of WW2 Lenny led a dangerous clandestine life as a special agent and over the course of the novel we discover just what happened to her during her time in occupied Paris. A skilled knitter, Lenny discovers an ingenuous way to incorporate pieces of code into her knitted garments which allows vital pieces of information to be passed in a seemingly innocent way. 

Based on a true story this is an interesting slant on the wartime resistance theme and as a knitter I was fascinated by the use of knitting to pass on messages as I hadn’t heard of this before but could well imagine how it was accomplished. I think the author has tackled this difficult subject well and successfully combines wartime history alongside an emotional romance story. The characters throughout were well described and there was enough tension and jeopardy in the plot to give the story its momentum. 

The first book in a new series, The Resistance Knitting Club  certainly gets the series off to a good start. 

☕️ Best read with : A cup of tea and a plate of treacle scones 

About the Author

Jenny O’Brien writes complex thrillers and heartbreaking historical fiction, as well as intriguing romances. Silent Cry, initially self published, topped the Amazon kindle chart in both the UK and the USA. Most of her books have followed suit. Jenny has over 40 years experience as a qualified nurse. She turned to creative writing as a hobby when her children were born. Born in Ireland, she now lives in Guernsey with her husband and children.

BOOK NEWS

The Resistance Knitting Club comes out in February, 2026. A blend of Jenny’s two hobbies - knitting and reading. For more check out The Resistance Knitting Club Facebook Page. Join the conversation as well as share your crafting projects.

​Follow on social media 

Twitter and Instagram @scribblerjb

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JennyOBrienWriter/

📖 Blog Tour ~The Human Kind by Alexander Baron

 

Imperial War Museum
2024

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
and to Random Things Tours for the invitation to the blog tour

MARKING THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS WARTIME CLASSICS SERIES

Alexander Baron’s remarkable Trilogy of the Second World War to be published together for the first time

Spanning the Sicilian countryside to the brothels of Ostend, and the final book in Alexander Baron’s War Trilogy, The Human Kind is a series of pithy vignettes reflective of the author’s own wartime experiences.

From the interminable days of training in Britain to brutal combat across Northwest Europe, the book depicts many of the men, women – and, in some cases, children – affected by the widespread reach of the Second World War.

In his trademark spare prose, Baron’s work provides an emotive and incisive snapshot into the lives of myriad characters during this tumultuous period in history.

Based on Alexander Baron’s own wartime experiences, this new edition of a 1953 classic includes an introduction from IWM which puts the work in historical context, and concludes the author’s War Trilogy.

📖 My Review..

Based on the author’s own wartime experiences, and first published in 1953, this last volume completes the War Trilogy which began with From the City, From the Plough and There’s No Home. In this collection of twenty five short stories Alexander Baron focuses on what war meant to the ordinary people who were caught up in extraordinary events. It’s an interesting collection and perhaps not what I was expecting, as it reads a bit like a personal memoir however, each of the stories have a beautiful lyrical quality which bring into stark reality some unique war time experiences. 

Some stories are quite difficult to read with emotional content which show the suffering, others are a little lighter but no less powerful. I was particularly impressed by The White Domain which shares the experiences of coal miners who were working alongside soldiers in constructing underground headquarters and on finishing Old Beethoven I have to admit to shedding a few tears. There are many of the twenty five stories which have stayed with me, particularly Chicolino which reiterates the vulnerability of children and their means of survival.

I have been particularly impressed by the stark power of these stories which linger in your mind even when you move onto the next one. Beautifully written, The Human Kind reminded me that although for us in the twenty first century these stories now read as historical fiction, for the author, this challenging time was his war-time reality and his powerful writing reminds us, quite forcibly, of that fact.

About the Author

Alexander Baron (1917 – 1999) was a British author and screenwriter. Widely acclaimed in his lifetime, he rose to prominence with his first novel, From the City, From the Plough, published in 1948 and based on his experiences of D-Day and the advance into Normandy.

It quickly became a bestseller, achieving both popular success and critical acclaim, and reportedly went on to sell in excess of one million copies. The novel cemented Baron’s reputation as a skilled, powerful, authentic writer, and he went on to write many more books, including the second and third in the sequence, both best-sellers, alongside scripts for Hollywood and screenplays for the BBC.

Twitter /  X @I_W_M #WartimeClassics #TheHumanKind

@AngelaMaryMar @RandomTTours

📖 Blog Tour ~ Whilst Paris Slept by Ruth Druart

 

 Delighted to share my book review on this blog tour

Headline
4 March 2021

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
and to Random Things Tours for my invitation to the blog tour

Santa Cruz 1953. Jean-Luc thought he had left it all behind. The scar on his face a small price to pay for surviving the horrors of Nazi occupation. Now, he has a new life in California, a family. He never expected the past to come knocking on his door.

Paris 1944. A young woman's future is torn away in a heartbeat. Herded on to a train bound for Auschwitz, in an act of desperation she entrusts her most precious possession to a stranger. All she has left now is hope. On a darkened platform two destinies become entangled. Their choice will change the future in ways neither could have imagined. Beginning on an ordinary day and ending on an extraordinary one, WHILE PARIS SLEPT is an unforgettable read.

📖 My Thoughts..

The story opens in 1953 and introduces us to Jean-Luc Beauchamp, his wife Charlotte, and their young son, Sam. This close knit family want nothing more than to settle down to a new life in America which is a world away from their life in Paris during the tumultuous years of the German occupation during WW2. 

Moving effortlessly between time frames we first get to know Jean-Luc in 1944 when he is forcibly made to maintain the railway system at Bobigny, a nightmare place, where overnight, as Paris sleeps, cattle trucks leave the station crammed with Jews on their way to the transit camp at Drancy. Distressed by everything he witnesses, Jean-Luc is determined to do whatever he can to thwart this deadly exodus but the dreadful circumstances he witnesses don't lend themselves to interference. However, a chance meeting with Charlotte de la Villy, and a desperate request from a Jewish stranger, will change the course of Jean-Luc's life forever.

The story is based on factual evidence of what was happening in Paris during the occupation and with emotional clarity a poignant story of distress, desperation and danger starts to emerge. The time frame moves seamlessly and I was as just as engrossed in what what was happening to the Beauchamps in America as I was with the second thread of the story that of a Jewish couple in Paris who have a very special reason for being part of the story. With impeccable research the author brings a real authentic sense of history and gives her characters such strong personalities that they leap off the page and into the room with you as you read, you feel their despair, particularly in the latter part of the story which is emotionally difficult to read without succumbing to tears.

Whilst Paris Slept is a sensitively written and emotionally heart-wrenching story about the strength of survival and the desperation of selfless courage.

 

About the Author

Ruth Druart grew up on the Isle of Wight, moving away at the age of eighteen to study psychology at Leicester University. She has lived in Paris since 1993, where she has followed a career in teaching. She has recently taken a sabbatical, so that she can follow her dream of writing full-time.

Twitter @RuthDruart #WhileParisSlept

@headlinepg

@RandomTTours

📖 Blog Tour ~ The German Girl by Lily Graham

📖 Delighted to share my book review on today's blog tour stop 📖 

Bookouture
12 January 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of the book
and the invitation to the blog tour

Our parents were taken. And if we go home, the Nazis will take us too…’

Hamburg 1938. Fifteen-year-old Asta is hurrying home from school with her twin brother Jurgen. The mood in the city is tense – synagogues have been smashed with sledgehammers, and Asta is too frightened to laugh as she used to.

But when she and Jurgen are stopped in the street by a friend, her world implodes further. Her Jewish parents have been dragged into the streets by German soldiers and if she and Jurgen return to their house, they will be taken too.

Heartbroken at the loss of her parents, Asta knows they must flee. With her beloved brother, she must make the perilous journey across Germany and into Denmark to reach their only surviving relative, her aunt Trine, a woman they barely know.

Jammed into a truck with other refugees, Asta prays for a miracle to save herself and Jurgen. Crossing the border is a crime punishable by death, and what she and Jurgen must embark on a dangerous crossing on foot, through the snowy forest dividing Germany and Denmark. And when barking dogs and armed soldiers find Jurgen and Asta escapes, she must hold on to hope no matter what. One day she will find her twin, the other half of herself. Whatever the price she has to pay..

My Thoughts..

Jewish twins, Asta and Jurgen are a just a couple of ordinary teenagers who enjoy living their lives with their parents in the city of Hamburg. However, it's now 1938, and as the political arena starts to change in Germany so the family face particular hardship when animosity towards the Jewish population starts to creep into their everyday lives. With unspeakable horror, Asta and Jurgen witness their parents being forcibly removed from their house but thanks to the kindness of their neighbours the twins are able to flee the city and undertake a perilous journey to find their only other relative in Denmark.

The story which follows is an emotional roller-coaster which sees the twins placed in grave danger as they make their way through a country in turmoil. The author writes with emotional conviction and brings to life the danger and despair of those who are, quite literally, running for their lives. Told in two time frames which begin primarily in Northern Sweden in 1995, before switching to WW2 Germany, I thought that both sections have a strong historical authenticity and I felt just at comfortable in the cold and ice with the old man and his granddaughter in Sweden as I did in the fierce distraction in the forests of Southern Jutland in late 1938.

Beautifully and emotionally written The German Girl is a heartbreaking story of hardship, despair and unerring bravery in the face of great tragedy.

(Just a note to say that this story was previously titled : The Flight of Swallows)

About the Author

Lily has been telling stories since she was a child, starting with her imaginary rabbit, Stephanus, and their adventures in the enchanted peach tree in her garden, which she envisioned as a magical portal to Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree. She’s never really got out of the habit of making things up, and still thinks of Stephanus rather fondly.

She lives with her husband and her English bulldog, Fudge, and brings her love for the sea and country-living to her fiction.

@Bookouture #BooksonTour

Website

Facebook

@lilygrahambooks #TheGermanGirl

 

Blog Tour ~ The Railway Girls by Maisie Thomas

I'm excited to host a stop on this lovely blog tour

for a brand new historical saga

Arrow
28 May 2020

My thanks to the publishers for my ecopy of this book
and the opportunity to be part of this blog tour

The first novel in the utterly brilliant Railway Girls series. 

Perfect for fans of Nancy Revell and Ellie Dean.

In February, 1922, at the western-most entrance to Victoria Station in Manchester, a massive plaque was unveiled. Beneath a vast tiled map showing the lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway network, a series of seven bronze panels recorded the names of the men of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway who gave their lives for King and Country in the Great War – a total of 1,460 names.

In March, 1940, a group of women of varying ages and backgrounds, stand in front of the memorial, ready to do their bit in this new World War...

What did I think about it..

It's always exciting to be in right at the beginning of a new historical saga and to have one set in the north west is especially heartwarming as many of the places mentioned in The Railway Girls are places I am familiar with, in fact, like one of the characters in the book, my own grandfather worked on the northern Railways.

The story starts in 1940 when the country is already in the grip of war. All those industries which once relied on manpower, now find that it is the women folk who have to keep the country together, from working in heavy industrial factories making ammunition, to keeping the canals and railways functioning, women were very much in charge of keeping the home fires burning. However, this didn't always sit comfortably with those men who stayed at home, and there was often resentment and bullying  towards the female workforce.

The eponymous railways girls are pulled from all walks of life, from the posh girls with plummy accents, to the rough and ready northern housewives, there is a real mix of personalities and I think that's what really works as right from the start the women who are brought together to work on the LMS railway network do so with a sense of excitement, trepidation and pure northern grit.

Some characters I liked more than others and some I wanted to give a good telling off to, but throughout it all I sensed that this disparate group were going to get on like a house on fire. I especially enjoyed when the women all met up after their shifts to share their problems over a cup of tea in the station tearoom. However, it's not all about gossiping over a teacup, there's plenty more going on, and I enjoyed how the author gave attention to each of the characters so that we got to know more about them, not just the roles they played on the railways ,but also their, very different, home circumstances.

The Railway Girls brings this wartime period alive in a beautifully written historical saga and the author uses her own local knowledge of the area to really bring everything alive in the imagination. Whether it be observing the hard graft of physical labour on the LMS network, or typing invoices in the clerks' office, or waltzing in the Manchester dance halls, there is never a moment when the personality of the railway girls, or the sense of historical authenticity doesn't shine through.

It's been a real pleasure to spend time with the intrepid railways girls and I am already looking forward to finding out just what happens next to them all.

About the Author

Maisie Thomas was born and brought up in Manchester, which provides the location for her Railway Girls novels. She loves writing stories with strong female characters, set in times when women needed determination and vision to make their mark. The Railway Girls series is inspired by her great Aunt Jessie, who worked as a railway clerk during the First World War. Maisie now lives in beautiful North Wales with her railway enthusiast husband and their two rescue cats. They often enjoy holidays chugging up and down the UK’s heritage steam railways.

Twitter @MaisieThomas99 #TheRailwayGirls

Twitter @Arrowpublishing 

Amazon UK

The Railway Girls is published in paperback and ebook on the 28th May 

Hist fic Saturday ~ Blog Tour ~ Plenty Under the Counter by Kathleen Hewitt

On Hist Fic Saturday 

I'm thrilled to be hosting today's stop on this Blog Tour

In September 2019, to mark the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, IWM will launch a wonderful new series with four novels from their archives all set during the Second World War – Imperial War Museums Wartime Classics. 

Originally published to considerable acclaim, these titles were written either during or just after the Second World War and are currently out of print. Each novel is written directly from the author’s own experience and takes the reader right into the heart of the conflict. They all capture the awful absurdity of war and the trauma and chaos of battle as well as some of the fierce loyalties and black humour that can emerge in extraordinary circumstances. 

Living through a time of great upheaval, as we are today, each wartime story brings the reality of war alive in a vivid and profoundly moving way and is a timely reminder of what the previous generations experienced. 

The remarkable IWM Library has an outstanding literary collection and was an integral part of Imperial War Museums from its very beginnings. Alan Jeffreys, (Senior Curator, Second World War, Imperial War Museums) searched the library collection to come up with these four launch titles, all of which deserve a new and wider audience. He has written an introduction to each novel that sets them in context and gives the wider historical background and says, ‘Researching the Wartime Classics has been one of the most enjoyable projects I’ve worked on in my years at IWM. It’s been very exciting rediscovering these fantastic novels and helping to bring them to the wider readership they so deserve’

IWM
Wartime Classics
26 September 2019

My thanks to the IWM, Angela Martin, and Random Things Tours for my copy of this book
and the opportunity to be part of this Blog Tour

Plenty Under the Counter by Kathleen Hewitt – a murder mystery about opportunism and the black market set against the backdrop of London during the Blitz. ‘With a dead body on the first page and a debonair RAF pilot as the sleuth, this stylish whodunit takes you straight back to Blitzed London and murder most foul. Several plausible suspects, a femme fatale, witty dialogue, memorable scenes and unexpected twists – it boasts everything a great whodunit should have, and more. Andrew Roberts.

My thoughts about it..

WW2 Flight-Lieutenant David Heron is recuperating after a war time injury and has chosen to spend his convalescence in his favourite boarding house in London. When he is rudely awakened with the strange news that the body of a man has been found in the garden everyone in Mrs Meake’s boarding house is immediately under suspicion. David, however, is determined to track down the perpetrator of this heinous crime even though it takes him into some very dangerous situations.

What then follows is an interesting whodunit which is very much in the style of the golden age of sleuthing. The characters take charge from the very start and whilst Flight-Lieutenant Heron is a suave and sophisticated sleuth, he is also very much an old fashioned gentleman, and his considered approach to crime investigation is a real breath of fresh air. However, his air of affability and general bonhomie is about to be tested to the limit as he delves further and further into the clandestine world of the black market.

Plenty Under the Counter is filled with twists, turns and numerous red herrings and is a fascinating snap shot of what it was like to live in wartime London. Written in 1948, there is a definite air of authenticity about it, particularly as the author is using her own experience of living in London during the war years, bringing a real sense of originality to what is, after all, quite a complex murder/mystery.

Plenty Under the Counter is a fascinating addition to the IWM Wartime Classic Collection and will, I’m sure, appeal to those readers who enjoy a good old fashioned crime novel. 

About the Author

Kathleen Hewitt was a British author and playwright who wrote more than 20 novels in her lifetime. She was part of an artistic set in 1930’s London which included Olga Lehman and the poet Roy Campbell.

Twitter @I_W_M #wartimeclassics

@angelamarymar

#randomthingstours

Blog Tour ~ From the City, From the Plough by Alexander Baron

Absolutely thrilled to be taking part in this exciting Blog Tour

In September 2019, to mark the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, IWM will launch a wonderful new series with four novels from their archives all set during the Second World War – Imperial War Museums Wartime Classics.

Originally published to considerable acclaim, these titles were written either during or just after the Second World War and are currently out of print. Each novel is written directly from the author’s own experience and takes the reader right into the heart of the conflict. They all capture the awful absurdity of war and the trauma and chaos of battle as well as some of the fierce loyalties and black humour that can emerge in extraordinary circumstances. 

Living through a time of great upheaval, as we are today, each wartime story brings the reality of war alive in a vivid and profoundly moving way and is a timely reminder of what the previous generations experienced.

IWM
26 September 2019
£8.99 Paperback

My thanks to IWM and to Random Things Tours for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be part of this blog tour

From the City, From the Plough by Alexander Baron – A vivid and moving account of preparations for D-Day and the advance into Normandy. Published in the 75th anniversary year of the D-Day landings, this is based on the author’s first-hand experience of D-Day and has been described by Antony Beevor as ‘undoubtedly one of the very greatest British novels of the Second World War.’

 My thoughts about it..

The events of D-Day, now so long ago, with only a handful of war veterans who were actually there, proves that this novel is all the more timely as it gives a fictional account of the build up to D-Day as seen through the eyes of the men who made up the 5th Battalion of the Wessex Regiment. This group of soldiers, like so many battalions, was drawn from all aspects of life, from those who arrived covered in the dust and grime of cities, to the country boys who were more at home wielding a scythe, or ploughing a field, and yet in exceptional circumstances, this band of brothers grouped together to form a cohesive whole.

From the City, From the Plough, is the author's fictional account of a situation he experienced at first hand as he was one of the soldiers to go across the channel around D-Day. He writes with authority about the inertia of the long hot summer of 1944 when the soldiers of the 5th Battalion were waiting for action. The novel instills such a sense of reality that there were times when I forgot that I was reading a fictional account as it feels more as if you are living through every second of the interminable waiting with them.

When the action finally starts to happen there's a real sense of horror as the men struggled with ferocious German bombardment and of the sheer hard slog of trying to keep one step ahead of an enemy who was as dangerous as it was unpredictable. The novel tells a powerful story and doesn't describe the men of the 5th battalion as anything other than soldiers with faults and failings, some good, some bad, some who were typical opportunists, who were out for themselves, and others who were inherently good blokes with a sense of patriotic duty.

The book was published in 1948 and its first print run of 3000 copies sold out before publication. Since then the book has sold over one million copies, and it is hoped that this new IWM edition will bring this powerful story to a whole new readership.

From the City, From the Plough brings D-Day to life in a story which breaks your heart into a million pieces and it is one which will stay with me for a very long time.

About the Author

Alexander Baron was a widely acclaimed author and screenwriter and his London novels have a wide following. From the City, From the Plough was his first novel was his first novel.

Twitter @I_W_M #wartimeclassics

@angelamarymar

#randomthingstours