Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Dinah Jefferies's latest, Daughters of War.
It's 1944 and for the past seven years, sisters Hélène, Elise, and Florence have been living on their own in the family house in France. And while things have been relatively fine, there is a war on and each sister is doing their part.
Hélène sees first hand the damage caused by war in her job with the local doctor. And though the law only recently allowed for her to train in this capacity, she's already made great strides.
Elise owns a cafe in town but her own passion is the resistance. And the cafe serves as a letter box and more as the war becomes more drawn out.
Florence is the sister they call their "little witch." And with rations and little resources, she plays to that completely. Florence is their gardener and cook (even cooking for the cafe). And she's managed to hide produce and more from the occupying Germans, keeping her sisters well fed and comfortable enough.
But it's when two very different men land on their doorstep in need of help that things really take a turn.
Florence finds a young German deserter and offers him shelter in their home on the same day a Special Operations man from England is brought to them to recover from a parachute accident. Both men are grave dangers for the sisters—if the Germans were to search and find either one, they'd all be done for.
Three sisters trying to survive in occupied France. And they're hiding a secret they aren't even aware of. Beyond the two men they're sheltering, that is.
I loved the sisters and their relationships. Hélène in particular, the pragmatic one, was my favorite. She's the one who does all of the worrying, something I can relate to.
Elise is driven and determined, paying no mind to the danger she herself might be in as long as she's doing something to help their cause and fight against the Germans.
And Florence has her heads completely in the clouds. Of course she did spend much of her teenage years with just her sisters for support. And she is quite capable in spite of it all.
This is quite a chunky read and there were definitely times when I felt like there was a bit too much going on in the book. In the beginning, for example, Florence meets a German in the garden. And then the next chapter begins with her sisters discovering she's hidden a deserter in their home. And it took me a few beats to realize they were not in fact the same German man.
In spite of a few stumbles along those lines but not quite the same, I did find that I enjoyed this story quite a bit. It's hefty but moves steadily along.
This is apparently the first in a planned trilogy and I'm interested to see exactly where the story will go now that this one is done.
This is a must-read for fans of WWII-based historical fiction and family dramas!
To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official tour page here.
For more on Dinah Jefferies and her work you can check out her website here. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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