On the surface there is a lot of sweetness in this book but underneath there is just as much strength and realness. To me this book just feels genuine. I thoroughly enjoyed following along with the friendship between Emmy and Bunty and all their quirky Englishness.

Possibly my favourite line, it spoke to me on a very deep level - "Lord Overton now had the look of someone who had wandered into a modern art exhibition and couldn't' be bothered to pretend any of it made any sense."

This is definitely a new favourite book, I look forward with great anticipation to any other books A J Pearce may write! ( )

This story was inspired by letters and newspapers from London during WWII.
Emmeline Lake works hard to become a respected reporter working for Woman's Friend publication. It takes awhile for Emmy to warm up to Henrietta Bird who is the publisher of Woman's Friend. She is disappointed when she is assigned the advice column since she wanted more serious articles. It wasn't easy but Emmy pushed the boundaries of the "proper" responses and articles that had been enforced by Mrs. Bird for years. With publication sales dropping and women starting to enter the work force to help the war effort, the news should reflect the needs of the women during the war. Emmy had to convince Mrs. Bird that some changes to the column is vital to helping women endure the war while their husbands are away.

There is a wonderful cast of well-developed characters who each touch your heart. Emmy's best friend Bunty is engaged to marry William who joined the Auxiliary Fire Department before being sent to war with her brother Jack. Emmy also works part time as a telephone operator at the Auxiliary Fire department as well. This is a story of grief, loss, reconciliation, friendship, resilience and uplifting. ( )

See full review and more here!

Recommended: Sure
For those who can handle brutal heartbreak, for those who understand old-timey British phrases and slang (or have a convenient British friend to translate)

Thoughts:
If the letter-writing aspect of this is what's drawing you in, be aware that a lot of the story is focused on how they manage to live their lives under constant threat of war and danger and death. There's love, and friendship, and insecurity, but there's also near-deaths, and bombings, and hatred. You just have to be ready to take both, as they had to at the time.

The writing-letters side of the story took a significant backseat to the life-in-wartime side of the story for me. They tie together of course, but when I think back on this, I remember more about the wartime side. Maybe that's just because it was more emotionally weighted that way, but my point is that the aspect of her writing letters at a newspaper were not the parts I looked forward to the most or felt the most strongly about. It was more of filler for me, despite it's obvious central role in the story.

I will not be watching any movie adaptation of this, thank you very much! ( )

This was so interesting and addictive. It's been a long time since I stayed up past 1am reading, but I HAD to find out what was going to happen next!

If you want a really good read about the bravery of the everyday people in London during the Blitz, this is lovely! Emmy is a beautifully drawn character, and I can't wait to dive into the next one in what I hope will be a long, long series. ( )

I was on the hunt for light reading this fall and this one answered the call. A clever and overexuberant young woman takes a job at a stodgy magazine publisher. Instead of falling in line, she takes the initiative to "do better" for the readers. The reader follows along as she trips over a number of obstacles and eventually finds her way. I don't know if I'll continue, but if I'm in need of another no stress read, I'll pick up the next one for sure. 3* ( )