Courage For The Cornish Girls
By Betty Walker

I have a review to share of war time set book – Courage For The Cornish Girls. Thanks to Avon Books for a copy and review invite. Discover more in the blurb and my thoughts in my review  below.

Blurb

April 1942. Enemy gunfire on Penzance beach brings the Cornish Girls rushing to the rescue…

Yearning for adventure, Demelza dreams of one day joining the fire wardens. But before she can do so, gunfire during a trip to the beach provides her with an unexpected opportunity to get stuck in.

On hand to help the wounded beachgoers, Lily draws admiration with her nursing skills and is offered an exciting new position in the hospital in Penzance.

And swayed by her niece, Lily’s Aunt Violet agrees to take in three evacuees rescued on the beach, though they turn out to be more of a handful than she bargained for.

But even as the war rages around them, the biggest challenge facing each woman turns out to be one of the heart. Can the Cornish Girls help one another to open themselves up to love…?

Review

Set in 1942 in Cornwall, the bombs are dropping and war is marching ever onwards with its devastating consequences, but through the bleakness of this, life still continues through its challenges and glimmers of hope shine through here and there.

Life is on the up for these Cornish women!

Demelza, who wants ever so much to be a fire warden and works very hard to catch her dream and gets stuck into opportunities, no matter how unexpected, in an attempt to gain what she wants from life.

Lily is gaining all the attention in her nursing career, she is offered an exciting position in Penzance.

Violet doing her bit for the war effort by taking in refugees.

It’s a book that draws upon, to some extent, women just getting on with the job of attempting to do what they see is necessary to help others in the war effort, whilst also chasing their dreams, even though many challenges and potential obstacles  present themselves.
The three main characters are a heartwarming and determined set of women.

There isn’t only the obvious obstacles, such as the bombing that the women have to figure out how to work around, but also love and the obstacles of themselves, however, they try to face this too and open up to each other about this. It’s quite a multi-layered book of light, shade and darkness, yet on the whole, there is often something uplifting for readers to grasp onto and a sense of desire to cheer them on in the hope they get out of life, what they set out to do.

It’s a heartwarming book with a compelling storyline.