Published By: Pan
Pages: 320
Released On: 17/08/2023
Life is hard for the Fothergill family as they try to make a living on their farm in the Yorkshire Dales. Bob Fothergill has set his sights on buying his own farm instead of renting the one they currently hold. Sally his teenage daughter, wishes her father would see that she could help more with the farm, but he believes that a girl’s place is in the home. Ben, their youngest, has no interest in farming so is ignored. Sally’s mother makes do knowing her husband wants what’s best for them.
But when Bob decides to take a well-paid job collecting it causes friction in the family, bringing tension to everyone. With Germany is shaking its angry fist at other nations and the threat of another war undermines everything. Times are hard and the future is uncertain, but perhaps the coming years could bring better times. But will the Fothergills survive the oncoming storm?
*****
Thanks to Pan for providing an early copy of this title in return for an honest review and a spot on the book tour.
I had never really read any books like this, you know the type, following, usually, a young woman during the war periods and how that affects her life and relationships, but I’ve recently read quite a few. Whilst they all have familiar traits, they all have something just a little different about them, and this is no different.
I loved the description of Christmas in the first few chapters. Christmas 1938 is worlds away from Christmas now, and to read how happy children were with small gifts of fruit and coins and comics, was lovely. Whilst 2023 is better than 1938 in many ways, I think we’ve lost that value of small things that children had. And so I really enjoyed reading about that.
It’s quite a sedate novel and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s not slow or dull or uneventful at all. But it focusses more on the characters, stretching things out to give you enough time to develop a connection with them. Having said that, I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters. They weren’t badly written at all, but as people, I didn’t really fall in love with them.
Bob Fothergill is the father. He’s hot headed, stubborn and traditional. Ivy Fothergill is his wife, just tyring to keep the family together, not 100% happy with the male/female divide of the time, stands up to her husband in a time when women didn’t. Sally Fothergill is the eldest and I’d say the main protagonist here. I liked her. She wanted to help her family but she also wanted to live her own life as a young woman. And then Ben Fothergill is her younger brother. A bit annoying for me but he does give Sally some excellent things to work off.
It is written so well. The description and everything from the clothes to the food to the weather, it’s so visual. You can practically pop yourself into the scenes it is so clear.
I haven’t read a Diane Allen book before, and it’s clear from reading this that she has a passion for this time period and these kind of stories. You can see the amount of research she would have had to do and you can see her love for it in the smallest of details.
It does present the hardships of the time: money, relationships, jobs, impending war etc. But somehow she’s managed to make it feel so warm and cosy and uplifting. I think it’s about overcoming obstacles and hardships and working together, seeing the light amongst the darkness, especially during the dark times of war.
Even though it is set in the 1930s, I felt both Ivy and Sally were ahead of their time. Ivy has to be the dutiful wife but she isn’t afraid of standing up to her husband for the sake of her family. Sally is expected to marry and run a household and be a subservient woman, but she wants more than that. She wants to help with the manual work, she wants to marry who she loves, she wants to take on the stereotypical male roles that her brother doesn’t want. They definitely try to upset the status quote but in a really inspirational way!
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, who prefers character development over a heavy plot, and anyone who just wants a heartwarming tale to lose themselves in. I won’t spoil it, but the way it ends makes me assume there will be a direct sequel to it, possibly?
Books By Your Bedside 