Dear Mrs. Bird

I feel my time curled up reading A.J. Pearce's World War II novel Dear Mrs. Bird (#761) was time well spent.  It put me in mind of one of my all time favorite movies - Mrs. Miniver - starring Greer Garson.  Chin up, and keep the homes fires burning.

Plucky Emmeline Lake is keen to do her part to help the war effort, preferably by becoming a fearless Lady War Correspondent.  After all, her roommate and best friend Bunty is doing her part working in the War Office.  So when Emmy sees an ad in the paper for a job with the prestigious Evening Chronicle, she knows this is the job for her.  In fact, she's so excited that she fails to notice when she appears for her interview that she's actually landed the position as assistant to the advice columnist for the Chronicle's sister publication The Woman's Friend.

Mrs. Henrietta Bird is an overwhelming personality who has been writing her advice column since before World War I.  Times have changed, but she sees no reason why she should let down her standards.  Emmy's job is to dispose of any letters from readers with even the slightest whiff of Unpleasantness (And yes, there is a list Mrs. Bird furnishes as a guide to what constitutes "Unpleasantness" and it's a long one!).  But the more letters Emmy reads, the more she longs to reach out to these women and girls, until the day she rebels and sends a private answer back to a desperate reader signed Mrs. Bird...

Living with the privations and very real danger of London during the Blitz, Emmy, Bunty and the colorful cast of characters here still manage to hang onto their humanity and sense of humor.  It's very easy to get wrapped up in the lives of these young woman and their friends and coworkers, until heartbreak and tragedy befall them.  How they manage to cope and carry on makes for a very satisfying read.  Just be sure to have tissues on hand - I guarantee if your heart is not made of stone, you'll need them!

In fact, the only thing I didn't like about Dear Mrs. Bird was the cover art.  Frankly, I think it's downright ugly.  If I hadn't already read a blurb about this book, I never would have picked it up based on its cover, and that would have been a crying shame.