Dear Miss Lake is installment #4 in the Emmy Lake Chronicles, a historical fiction series set in England during WWII.
Dear Miss Lake by A.J. Pearce
Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction (WWII home front), Friendship, Community, Journalism, England
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My Summary:
Thanks #NetGalley @ScribnerBooks for a complimentary eARC of #DearMissLake upon my request. All opinions are my own.
Dear Miss Lake is the fourth (and last) installment of the Emmy Lake Chronicles, an “uplit” series set on the home front (England) during WWII. The series follows Emmy Lake as she pursues a career in journalism, appreciates the support and encouragement of friends and colleagues, and faces challenges on the home front during the war years.
My Thoughts:
Women’s Fiction/Historical Fiction Mash Up
Themes of women supporting women, friendship, career ambitions, and small sides of romance are set against the dramatic backdrop of WWII in England. Emmy and her friends and colleagues deal with the challenges of wartime as they strive to support the war effort, “carry on,” and live their best lives.
Inspirational Main Character
In each installment, Emmy Lake is faced with personal and professional challenges. Her determination, compassion, confidence, and problem-solving skills are inspirational and drive the action in each of the four books. (best read in order) I think my favorite of the four is Yours Cheerfully (#2) in which she fights for women’s rights for factory workers. I enjoy a series that follows the growth and development of one character as opposed to one that rotates points of view with each installment.
The Home Front
One of my favorite micro-genres of historical fiction is home front stories. I love reading about women supporting the war effort, taking on leadership responsibilities, and supporting each other and their communities. These home front stories tend to be “uplit” in nature.
Recommending Dear Miss Lake and the Emmy Lake Chronicles:
I enthusiastically recommend the Emmy Lake Chronicles (best read in order) for fans of home front WWII stories/women’s fiction. Limited violence (some bombings), no profanity, no open-door romance. When I read the first one (Dear Mrs. Bird), I had some reservations (I was used to grittier histfic and didn’t fully appreciate “uplit”), but I was sold in book #2. These are books I can recommend to anyone.
Related: Dear Mrs. Bird, Yours Cheerfully, Mrs. Porter Calling
My Rating: 4 Stars
Meet the Author of Dear Miss Lake (and the Emmy Lake Chronicles), A.J. Pearce
AJ Pearce was born in Hampshire, UK. Her favourite subjects at school were English and History, which now (finally!) makes sense.
Her debut novel Dear Mrs Bird was a Sunday Times Bestseller and Richard and Judy Bookclub Pick. It was shortlisted for Debut of the Year at The 2019 British Book Awards and has been published in the USA, Canada and Australia and in translation in over fifteen languages.
Dear Mrs Bird was the first in AJ’s series The Wartime Chronicles which now includes Yours Cheerfully and Mrs Porter Calling. Her books are funny, sometimes extremely sad, but always uplifting stories about a group of women standing together to face the challenges of World War II.
The fourth and final book in the series, Dear Miss Lake, will be published in the UK on 5 July 2025 (and on 3 August in the USA and Canada).
When not writing books, AJ enjoys being fairly rubbish at a variety of hobbies and has recently started to learn to paint, with so far messy although enthusiastic results.
Follow AJ on Instagram, Facebook and Threads: @ajpearcewrites.
QOTD:
Do you love WWII home front stories?
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I’ve got this to listen to so I’m glad you enjoyed it, Carol. I think my favourite so far, is book 3 as I loved the inclusion of the children, although it was sad in parts.
It’s a lovely end to the series! Enjoy!
I like the idea of these books, but I do tend to prefer grittier war storylines.
The home front stories always makes me wonder what I would have been doing in the same circumstances!
It was a good conclusion to the series. I’m looking forward to seeing what AJ Pearce writes next.
Have you interviewed her?
No I haven’t been to any events she’s done.
I’m so glad to see that the series ends well! #2 was also my favorite. For whatever reason, I haven’t felt drawn back to the series, despite reading all of them up to this point, but maybe I’ll feel differently once I see it at my library.
I’ll be curious to see what she does next!
I’ll read this next week–I’m listening to the book right now!
Enjoy!
Great review, Carol. I’m also a huge fan of home front stories and up-lit. I haven’t gotten to this one yet, but soon. I agree, Yours Cheerfully is my favourite so far.
Thanks! It’s a lovely series finale!