The Girls of Mulberry Lane by Rosie Clarke
Published: 1st August 2017
Publisher: Aria
Pages: 340
Available in Paperback and on Kindle
Rating: 5/5
Blurb
Love, marriage, birth, death and betrayal make up life in Mulberry Lane, perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries and Cathy Sharp. Maureen Jackson is a prisoner of her father's blackmail. Three years ago, she'd been hoping to marry Rory, the man of her dreams. However after her mother's death Maureen was left to care and work for the overbearing father who claimed he couldn't manage without her. Now Rory is back in London with a pregnant wife in tow and reminds Maureen of the life that should have been hers.
Janet Ashley is the daughter of Peggy and Laurence, landlords of the local pub The Dog and Pheasant on Mulberry Lane. With the war looming, Janet hopes to marry her sweetheart Mike, but her father refuses to grant them his blessing. Going against his wishes Janet finds herself pregnant and Peggy is determined to hold her family together at all costs.
The Girls of Mulberry Lane is the first in a series set in London's East End during WW2.
Review
The Girls of Mulberry Lane is the first novel I’ve read by
Rosie Clarke and it tells the tale of three women who live on the lane Maureen,
Peggy and her daughter Janet and their changing lives as war breaks out.
Maureen lives with her father and runs the local grocery
store. Maureen gave up her dreams of marrying Rory the love of her life when
her mother died and her father begged her to stay with him. Years later Maureen
is regretting the decision as she’s beginning to feel trapped and when she
meets Rory again and finds out he’s married someone else her heart breaks a
little more. Maureen tries to open her heart to other men but despite his
unavailability its Rory she still yearns for.
Peggy runs the local pub the Pig & Whistle with her
husband Laurence. She’s an optimistic and hard-working women who just wants the
best for her family, keeping them happy and safe when the war breaks out. Peggy
seems the typical lovable landlady and is a favourite among the residents of
Mulberry Lane as she is always seeming to be helping someone.
Peggy’s daughter Janet is eighteen and desperately in love
with Mike, she’s looking forward to being married to Mike and living round the
corner from her mum and being settled and happy. When Mike’s brother returns
from the Navy and convinces Mike it’s something he should do to Janet’s future
plans look set to be destroyed.
As war breaks out things change on Mulberry Lane and all
three of these women have life changing journeys to work through. Janet is the
one who has to face the biggest changes in her life as her love for Mike means
she must make some difficult decisions which lead her through some traumatic times.
I loved that despite the difficulties she faces Janet remains optimistic for
her happy ever after and shows she may be young but she has an incredible
amount of inner strength.
Maureen also faces big changes in her life as she tries to
move on from loving Rory. I loved how much more confident she grew with wise
words from her gran and friend Anne. Maureen’s gran was one of my favourite
additional characters and regardless of her age she seems to go on and on. I
loved how she wasn’t won over by her son’s devious ways and looking out for
Maureen was her number one priority.
Peggy’s changes are not as dramatic as the other two girls
as she realises her happy marriage is not as it seems but perhaps Peggy has further
to go on her journey in the next Mulberry Lane book (fingers crossed).
I loved the way Rosie Clarke has totally captured the spirit
of East End life in this book, warts and all. Even though the majority of the plot
is just ordinary life as the residents adapt to the new wartime ways I found it
fascinating. Among the more loveable characters such as Peggy, Maureen and
Janet there are also some devious and truly awful people brought to life just
as well, Rory’s wife Velma being at the top, she was such a heartless character
with no shame.
As the book drew to a close each characters story is tied up
loosely enough to end the book well but there is also things left which can be
developed into another book which I loved. I enjoyed everything about this book
and it was full of drama, romance and secrets and I found it a perfect example
of its genre.
Thank you so much to Aria for the copy to review and for
inviting me to be part of the blog tour.
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