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    London Belles
    London Belles
    London Belles
    Audiobook10 hours

    London Belles

    Written by Annie Groves

    Narrated by Anna Baatz

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    About this audiobook

    London Belles is a tale of four very different young women thrown together by war. Finding freedom and independence – as well as love, passion and heartbreak – for the very first time, a unique bond is formed as the hostilities take their toll on Britain.

    United by chance, bound together in times of need

    When tragedy strikes, Olive is forced to seek lodgers. Three girls come knocking at her door, each in need of a roof over their heads.

    Sally has left Liverpool to work as a nurse in London and when she arrives she is a shell of her former self. Where once stood a vivacious, sociable girl, now stands one plagued by homesickness and a betrayal that is devastatingly fresh in her mind.

    Dulcie is living the high life in the West End, a world away from her home in Stepney. Working at Selfridges gives her access to the most fashionable clothes and makeup, but at home she is the black sheep of the family; always second to her sister. So she decides it's time to make a bid for freedom.

    Agnes grew up in an orphanage, having been left on the steps as a new-born baby. But with war looming, and the orphanage relocating to the country, she must now seek out a job and lodgings. But with change comes exciting new opportunities, worlds away from the life she's known…

    As the women prepare for war, all of their futures hang in the balance. Soon their lives will change irrevocably and the home that binds the London Belles is no longer the sanctuary they once sought.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 28, 2010
    ISBN9780007377701
    Author

    Annie Groves

    Annie Groves was the creation of the much-loved writer, Penny Halsall, who died in 2011. Penny was born and lived in the north-west of England all of her life and the Annie Groves novels drew on her family’s history, picked up from listening to her grandmother’s stories as a child.Penny’s legacy of heart-warming and uplifting novels lives on through writer Jenny Shaw – who knew Penny personally for many years.

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    • 4/5
      Starting off her Article Row series, London Belles by Annie Groves covers the first year of WW II. The story revolves around a house on a small middle class street called Article Row in London. Tilly and her mother decide to take lodgers in to help with expenses, and sensible nurse Sally, shy orphan Agnes and confident shopgirl Dulcie are soon living there as well. These four girls, along with Olive, Tillys’ mother soon find themselves facing the difficulties of being at war, but when the bombs start dropping on their city, they discover that they have also become a family that cares and looks out for each other as well.The story covers the phoney war, Dunkirk and the beginning of the Battle of Britain and closes at the end of 1940. Each of the girls and Olive have an ongoing storyline and all will experience love, passion and heartbreak through the course of the series. I am sure they will also be learning some valuable life lessons as well. I am currently reading another of Annie Groves wartime series, this one set in Liverpool, so there is a slight cookie-cutter feeling about the book, but I am a big sucker for books set in England during WW II so I will more than likely continue on with this series at some point.
    • 4/5
      One of my favourite guilty-pleasure authors has done it again. I love this book, I love the characters. A perfect read for those looking for something gentle yet emotional.
    • 3/5
      One of my guilty pleasures is the World War II homefront genre fiction that is popular in the UK. This book, the first in a series is about four young women living on a street in the east end of London at the beginning of World War II. Sally is a nurse at St. Bartholomew's hospital, Dulcie is a shop assistant sat Selfridge's, Agnes works on the Underground and Tilly works in a social worker capacity. They all live with Tilly's mother, Olive, in her house and come to find love as the war devastates the city.This book is not going to win any literary prizes, but like I said, these books are my guilty pleasures like popcorn at the movies.