Margaret Mayhew – Double Blog Tour

Today I have a double blog tour for the re-issue of Margaret Mayhew The Boat Girls and Our Yanks.

The Boat Girls

A story of three women who are all very different and are all thrown together to deliver essential supplies on the canals and waterways of Britain, mainly transporting good between the London Docks and the Midlands. This service for the was was not as well known as the Land Girls due to there only being small numbers of women who did the work, but this was as essential as being a Land Girl in the war.

Set in 1943 there is Frances, a woman who is from a privileged background but determined to do something to escape her brother. Rosalind, an actress with as you could guess a totally different life than Frances. Prudence is a shy woman, a bank clerk and needs to escape boredom and a man!

We explore the practicalities and hardships of living on the water, as well as how these boat girls were treated by others who had been living on the water for years. The primitive sanitation, cramped living conditions and the actual cargo they moved all add up to a pretty gritty and as far removed as possible from every one of the girls lives as humanely possible.

We are witness to the friendships made and the romances that play out. I was fully there, in the horrible conditions with these three girls and, oh my, why did I not know about these poor women from this time! A truly interesting and enlightening read.

Our Yanks

It is 1943, and the little village of Kings Thorpe has, up to now, had no bombs or been overtaken by Yanks.

They have, however, obviously been affected by rationing and young men going off to war. We are introduced to some villagers and we follow their lives for a while. Then it is announced the Yanks are taking over the old RAF Aerodrome and the villagers begin to co.plain, no one wants them here. The older villagers exclaiming “They will be trouble!” Off course, when they arrive, these lads are just that, young Americans and we see clashes between them and the villagers. There are dances, socials as well as everything possible created to attempt to reduce the clashes and to help these young lads fit into the village…and for the villagers to allow them to become part of the community too.
The Yanks begin to slowly blend in and as the story develops we see budding romances and hopes shattered at the same time. A Yank, Joe Bilsky gets taken under the lonely Miss Cutteridge’s wing and he becomes like a son to her. The American’s that can’t resist the ladies but are already married. All the things I have heard about from my Grandparents about the Yanks is all here in one book, for me to learn and also entertain myself with!
Again, another Margaret Mayhew story that I could not put down. I am a sucker for a historical fiction story from the war and this is the second one that I have got lost in and loved the characters and the time period. So good to read and learn as well I feel.

Thank you to Random Things Tours and the publisher for both books to take part in this double blog tour today. I really loved them both.