Victory for the Foyles Bookshop Girls is set in London during WWI and told from three perspectives.
Victory for the Foyles Bookshop Girls by Elaine Roberts
Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Friendship, Women Supporting Women, London
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My Summary:
Thanks #NetGalley @BoldwoodBooks for a complimentary eARC of #VictoryForTheFoylesBookshopGirls. All opinions are my own.
Victory for the Foyles Bookshop Girls is #6 in a series and can be read as a standalone. As WWI is drawing to a close, the bookshop girls are facing new challenges. In addition to personal challenges, the Spanish Flu reaches London. Alice, Victoria, and Molly have become as close as sisters, and their commitments to each other and the bookshop have never been more important.
My Thoughts:
Women Supporting Women/Friendship
I love the themes of friendship and women supporting women. In trying times and under hardships, women are there for each other. The story is told from three perspectives as Alice, Victoria, and Molly devise strategies for sustaining the bookstore during troubling times, encourage and support each other, and offer practical help to ease the burdens of friends and family.
“This, she thought, is what healing looked like, not the absence of pain, but the courage to create joy despite it…The courage to transform war memories into Christmas magic.”
WWI Home Front
It is a nice change of pace to read WWI era fiction. I always love home front stories. A major issue in the story is PTSD (referred to as “shell shock”). It’s heartbreaking to think that so many men didn’t receive the help they needed.
Another issue facing them is the Spanish Flu Epidemic. It’s interesting to hear of similar strategies used for this flu outbreak that we used in 2020 during Covid: masks, store closures, social distancing, disinfecting surfaces, etc. The young women working at Foyles bookshop must lean into creative and innovative ways to keep the bookshop going while the flu is raging.
Series
Oops! Evidently, this is #6 in a series which I didn’t realize when I accepted the ARC. Even though I haven’t read the series and this was my first introduction to the characters, I think it reads OK as a standalone. However, reading in order is the most satisfying reading experience. For the end of a series, the story wrapped things up satisfactorily for these three women (from my limited knowledge and perspective). I’m certain readers of the entire series will appreciate the heartwarming and uplifting conclusion.
Content Consideration: PTSD, death, grief, illness
Recommending Victory for the Foyles Bookshop Girls:
“The magic of books, of Christmas, of peace, of hope renewed.”
I highly recommend Victory for the Foyles Bookshop Girls for fans of heartfelt women’s historical fiction with substantial themes of found family, forgiveness, healing, hope, new beginnings, and friendship. Even though I jumped into the series at the end, I think the entire series would make for good reading.
Related: Another book about the Spanish Flu is As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner.
My Rating: 4 Stars
Meet the Author of Victory for the Foyles Bookshop Girls, Elaine Roberts
Elaine Roberts loves anything creative, but her main love is writing. For many years, Elaine had a dream to write for a living. Thanks to her family, who encouraged that dream she had her first book, The Foyles Bookshop Girls, published when she was sixty-two years old.
As a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and The Society of Women Writers & Journalists, Elaine attends many conferences, workshops, seminars, and wonderful parties. Meeting other writers gives her encouragement, finding most face similar problems.
Elaine and her late husband, Dave, have five children who have flown the nest. Home is in North West Kent and is always busy with their children, grandchildren, grand dogs and cats visiting. Without her wonderful family and supportive friends, she knows the dream would never have been realised.
QOTD:
Do you love heartfelt histfic?
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This sounds good. Yes, I do enjoy heartfelt historical fiction. After so much WWII-era good historical fiction, I would welcome a little change of pace with fiction set during WWI.
Such a horrible war….those poor returning soldiers.
Yes, and they were expected to just come home and function like everyone who had not seen the horrors of war.
I’m happy that it worked out, Carol. There aren’t a lot of books set during this time period, especially with women who are working. Great review.
Thanks!🌻