I am delighted to join the blog tour for Dark Days for the Tobacco Girls by Lizzie Lane today! My thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for my stop and the review copy!
About the Book
Dark Days for the Tobacco Girls
Nothing will stop the The Tobacco Girls, not even war…
BRISTOL 1940.
The Tobacco Girls cling together as they realise that the clouds of war are turning dark, the world is becoming more dangerous and their lives more unpredictable.
Bridget Milligan’s big, happy family fragments when her siblings are evacuated to North Devon, then a letter from America further fills her with dismay.
Maisie Miles safe haven from both Eddie Bridgeman and her father is jeopardised and she is forced to move on, but where too this time?
Phyllis Mason is struck down by tragedy and her life spirals downwards into despair until a new horizons beckons, but also perhaps great danger…
Regardless of the rationing, shortages and an ever-worsening situation, The Tobacco Girls all pull together and hope for better days to come.
Buy Dark Days for the Tobacco Girls from Amazon UK here
My Thoughts…
Set in 1940s wartime Bristol with peeks at North Devon, the reader dips into the lives of three young women. This is the second book in the series and though I have yet to read the first, The Tobacco Girls, I still enjoyed this story a great deal. Lizzie Lane includes occasional reminders here and there as to what happened to the young women previously, so I didn’t feel particularly lost or at sea. The women are Bridget Milligan, Maisie Miles and Phyllis Mason, known as the Three Ms. Bridget and Maisie are working at the W. D. & H. O. Wills tobacco factory whilst Phyllis, recently married, is expecting a baby. Robert Harvey, Phyllis’s husband works away and Phyllis lives in his family’s home, with her domineering, unpleasant mother-in-law. Bridget is part of a large family and her six siblings are evacuated to North Devon. Bridget hopes every day that her American beau, Lyndon O’Neill remembers her and has written. Maisie who is the youngest of the Three Ms, works at the Llandoger Trow pub as well as the tobacco factory and for her, life is reasonably good, until she finds herself looking over her shoulder when her stepfather, Frank is released from prison.
In Dark Days for the Tobacco Girls, readers get to see the effects of the horrors of war such as food rationing, bombings and buildings crumbling, through the author’s terrifically evocative writing. There are dashes of delight scattered throughout the tale as well, in terms of treasured friendship, support and love. An atmospheric, heartwarming but also heartbreaking read with a tantalising ending, I now find myself desperate to catch up with book one as well as wondering what’s in store for the Three Ms in the third instalment.
Thank you to Lizzie Lane, Boldwood Books, NetGalley and Rachel’s Random Resources for a complimentary copy of this novel at my request. This review is my own unbiased opinion.
Brianne’s Book Reviews Rating | Five Stars
About The Author
Lizzie Lane is the author of over 50 books, a number of which have been bestsellers. She was born and bred in Bristol where many of her family worked in the cigarette and cigar factories. This has inspired her new saga series for Boldwood The Tobacco Girls, the first part of which will be published in January 2021. Keep up to date with Lizzie via her Newsletter, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Bookbub.
Don’t forget the other stops on the tour!
Until Next Time,
