"Realistic And Essentially Human" - A Review of "New Beginnings"

This week I am delighted and proud to share a book review of New Beginnings for the Surplus Girls with you. As well as being about New Beginnings, it also comments on the series as a whole, which makes it an extra special review.

The review was written by Julie Barham, who blogs as Northern Reader. Julie has been a supporter of the series right from the beginning.

Here is part of the review:

"As with all the books in this series there is a lot of research into the setting and background to this story, as well as the clothes, the expectations and much more. This impressive work is never allowed to slow the narrative, and I felt that there are real insights in the lives of people at the time. The writing, especially the dialogue, is lively and enjoyable, and drew me into the progress of Jess, Tom and the other characters. While most characters are likable, there are also those whose intentions are not always positive, which represents a good balance with those who I was keenly involved with throughout. Heron is very good at seizing on the real problems that people, especially women, faced at the time, and writes persuasively of the effects of discrimination. The after effects of a traumatic War are foremost for at least one character, and generally there is a sense of the enormity of challenges that many people, including children, continue to face. The characters are realistic and essentially human, and altogether this is a book that I was very pleased to have the opportunity to read and review."

Wow! I'm thrilled with this, as you can imagine.

If you would like to read the whole review, here is the link.

And here is the link to The Surplus Girls series on Amazon.