‘Wartime With The Tram Girls’ by Lynn Johnson is a historical, uplifting World War One romantic saga.
Set in 1913 onwards we are introduced to Constance who is 19 and her father is attempting to find a good match for her, a man that will look after her. This is the time that the women’s suffragette movement is rising to become the force we know it as today and war is on the horizon too. She meets Matthew as he had signed up and going for his basic training. During a short visit home, they become engaged. Connie decides that she is going to work as a “clippie” on the trams and earn her own money. This is a definite eye-opener for her, with her privileged upbringing, but one that quite a lot of women during this period in time discovered too. She makes fast friends and realises that there is more to life than money. We see Connie has a secret and is it one that could actually cost her her new way of life and after the war will she be able to go back to her old life or has she been changed permanently?
A story that took me back in time and kept me there. One that was rich in historical detail if you aren’t familiar with the suffragettes movement, this book will educate you and do it in a great way, by entertaining as well. The characters are fully rounded and I felt for Connie as she realised her life on the trams could be gone when the men came back. We see the class divides too, the women who had always had help; a cook, cleaner etc and when these cooks and cleaners left the women had to assert themselves and learn these things.
A thoroughly immersive saga that is the second book in a series but I read this on its own and it didn’t detract from the story.
Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and Hera Books for the copy of this book.
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