Today, the day before VE Day, I am delighted to feature another in Jean Fullerton's Ration Book series, A Ration Book Wedding.
Because in the darkest days of the Blitz, love is more
important than ever.
It's February 1942 and the Americans have finally joined
Britain and its allies. Meanwhile, twenty-three-year-old Francesca Fabrino,
like thousands of other women, is doing her bit for the war effort in a factory
in East London. But her thoughts are constantly occupied by her unrequited love
for Charlie Brogan, who has recently married a woman of questionable
reputation, before being shipped out to North Africa with the Eighth Army.
When Francesca starts a new job as an Italian translator for
the BBC Overseas Department, she meets handsome Count Leonardo D'Angelo. Just
as Francesca has begun to put her hopeless love for Charlie to one side and
embrace the affections of this charming and impressive man, Charlie returns
from the front, his marriage in ruins and his heart burning for Francesca at
last. Could she, a good Catholic girl, countenance an illicit affair with the
man she has always longed for? Or should she choose a different, less dangerous
path?
My Thoughts
It was great to be reacquainted with the Brogan family but also to follow Francesca's story. The writing drips with authenticity again as Wartime London of 1942 is evoked. The rationing and the effect on family life is clearly pictured through the descriptions of a typical day where the nights are dominated with the air raids and life is to an extent proscribed. Francesca is at the start carrying out war work in the armament factory but her life opens out when she gets herself a job in the newly formed Radio Roma and the BBC.
Francesca is a likeable character. Her affection for her father is clear despite his attempts to make her conform to his traditional Catholic values. You sense how she is ready for more opportunities but unwilling to upset her father. In this, she has to tread a difficult path. Through Charlie's unsuitable wife, you get to see a completely different side of society to the family values of the Brogans and the Fabrinos. This is a murky world of child neglect, prostitution, exotic dancing, thieving and the Black Market. It is fascinating to see how some of the richer types seem to be able to carry on their affluent lives at the Ritz.
Birthsm Weddings and Deaths carry on throughout the War, despite all the odds. As an evocation of life in the Home Front during the Second World War, this is a remarkably readable and well written standalone novel.
In short: Life under duress.
About the Author
Jean Fullerton is the author of eleven novels all set in
East London where she was born. She also a retired district nurse and
university lecturer. She won the Harry
Bowling prize in 2006 and after initially signing for two East London
historical series with Orion she moved to Corvus, part of Atlantic Publishing
and is half way through her WW2 East London series featuring the Brogan family.
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