A Wartime Welcome at Rookery House

Follow the much-loved characters from the award winning MOTHER’S DAY CLUB in a brand-new World War Two saga series.

October 1940

When VAD nurse Evie narrowly avoids being killed in an air raid during the Blitz, it propels her to make a life-changing decision to break free of her troubled and unhappy life. She escapes to the Norfolk countryside to start afresh, with a job at the newly opened Great Plumstead Hall hospital, and a wonderful new home at Rookery House.

The community of Great Plumstead welcomes more evacuees to the village – mothers and children bombed out of their London homes. Sisters Prue and Thea, along with members of The Mother’s Day Club, help the new arrivals settle in, while continuing their work for the war effort by holding knitting bees, socials and doing WVS work.

Evie is happy in her new life – she loves living at Rookery House and enjoys her job at the hospital, despite working for the difficult Matron Reed. But when a patient arrives who knew her in her former life, Evie’s new-found freedom and happiness is in danger. Will the secrets of Evie’s past be revealed, and the problems from her old life return to trouble her once more?

As the book description says, this book follows the characters from Rosie Hendry's previous series, The Mother's Day Club. While A Wartime Welcome at Rookery House can be read as a standalone I do feel it would be beneficial to have read her previous books in order to fully get to know the characters and their stories. That being said, not having read her previous books, Rosie Hendry has written the book in such a way that we do get some snippets into back stories and this was a book I thoroughly enjoyed.

Evie, a nurse finds a way to escape her life in London. Unfortunately she must take extreme measures to do this but finding a home at Rookery House while she works in the hospital that has been set up at Great Plumstead Hall make it all worthwhile. Initially quiet and withdrawn, she soon comes to trust those at Rookery House and open up more, particularly during a sad and emotional scene in the book which I have to say had me turn into a blubbering mess. The imagery that Rosie Hendry created left me with a lump in my throat. I won't give too much away for fear of any spoilers but suffice to say, given the context of this book and the historical accuracy depicted in it, I defy any reader not to be moved. However, it will only be a matter of time before Evie's new life is threatened.

The way wartime village life has been depicted in the novel really shows how a massive amount of research has been done in order to fully transport the reader back to this era, from the fashion, food, games and even songs. The characters, even the not very nice ones, all play a huge part in this character driven story and add something important to each scene. Even Thea's cow Primrose, who by the way I loved! 

This story is very much driven by the sacrifices made by many during the war but particularly by women who are a driving force in this book. They get things done. They support one another. They make sure that nobody goes without, particularly the women and children evacuated from London. They are the backbone of the village and with such strong characters as Hettie and Thea making sure that the war effort carries on, it's not difficult to be impressed by them. The wartime resilience and camaraderie are very clearly depicted in this wonderful novel. While the war made lives difficult for many it unexpectedly opened up opportunities for others, particularly women.

A Wartime Welcome at Rookery House is told beautifully in a pace that is perfect for the story. It's a story of friendship, love and above all highlighted for me that sometimes we need to make a family for ourselves and one unexpected thing that the war did was to bring people together who might not necessarily have become family had circumstances been different.  There is no doubt that the book depicts the difficulties and hardships of war but it also depicts strength, pride and a sense of togetherness. Loved it!